HISTORY
OF THE.econl td.s.    3eglileltt  of[   n~[antrp:
SECOND PAPER.
DELIVERED BY
GEORGE H. GORDON,
MAJOR-GENERAL OF VOLUNTEERS AND COLONEL SECOND MASS. REGIMENT OF
INFANTRY IN THE LATE WAR,
AT THE
ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SECOND MASS. INFANTRY
ASSOCIATION, ON MAY   I, I874.
BOSTON:
ALFRED MUDGE & SON, PRINTERS, 34 SCHOOL STREET.
I874.








HISTORY
OF THE
tcollnd      5,     {egiJml llt 0A      PEnltrQ:
SECOND PAPER.
DELIVERED BY
GEORGE H. GORDON,
MAJOR-GENERAL OF VOLUNrlTEERS AND COLONEL SECOND MASS. REGIMENT OF
INFANTRY IN THE LATE WAR,
AT THE
ANNUAL MEETING OF TIlE SECOND MASS. INFANTRY
ASSOCIATION, ON MAY ii, IS74.
BOSTON:
ALFRED MUDGE & SON, PRINTERS, 34 SCHOOL STREET.
1874.








THE ADDRESS.
CHAPTER II.
AT the earnest request of the Association, I have prepared
a second paper upon the history of our regiment. My narrative is resumed with the news of our defeat at Manassas.
I shall tell of the part taken by us from the hour when Gen.
McClellan began the creation of the Army of the Potomac
until we marched with him as part of that army for the second
invasion of Virginia.  I shall touch briefly upon the trials
which resulted in the creation of a well-disciplined army, only
hinting at the magnitude of the task to which Gen. McClellan devoted himself with a soldier's experience and a magnetic
power. It will remain for the coming historian to declare that
in this creation the genius of the pupil confronted the skill
of the master at Appomattox, when Lee surrendered his
whole army to that Army of the Potomac which grew steadily
and sturdily from the seed planted by George B McClellan.
While we were occupying Harper's Ferry as a temporary
garrison, our regiment furnishing the necessary guards and
its colonel commanding the fort, a daily paper received on
the 25th day of July announced that the President of the
United States had raised Mr. N. P. Banks, late of Massachusetts, from a private citizen to the rank of a Major-General
of Volunteers, and had ordered him to relieve Gen. Patterson
of his command. As a Massachusetts man, I was appealed
to: What did I think of the truth of this report? "It has no
foundation," I replied. " I have," I added, "a slight acquaintance
with MIr. Banks, - Governor Banks, as we call him, - and I
think I can assure you that he has too much good sense and
good judgment to assume the responsibilities of such rank




4
until he has fitted himself in subordinate situations to know
something of a soldier's profession, - in which," I was about
to add, " he is now totally inexperienced," when a knock at the
door of Gen. Patterson's headquarters, where we were in discussion, announced a messenger, who brought, with the compliments of Gen. Banks to Gen. Patterson, the further information
that in a few moments the former would present himself in
person, to receive upon his shoulders the heavy burdens which
were afterwards to be laid upon the Army of the Shenandoah.
Thus it was that the reign of Patterson within the Department of Pennsylvania was transferred to Banks, who changed
the designation of the department to that of the Shenandoah.
It was only one week later that the Army of the Shenandoah
-with the exception of our regiment - was ordered to cross
the Potomac, to take up positions in Maryland. We were left
to garrison Harper's Ferry, our numbers increased by twenty
cavalry-men under command of a non-commissioned officer.
The order directing me to hold the outpost of Harper's Ferry
was dated the 28th of July, but it was followed by another,
dated the 29th of July, issued from Sandy Hook, in which
three companies of the Second Massachusetts Regiment, with
the cavalry detachment, were ordered to remain as a garrison
at Harper's Ferry, while the remaining companies, with three
guns of the Rhode Island Battery, to be commanded by the
colonel of the Second Massachusetts Regiment, were ordered
to cross the river into Maryland, and take position on the
western face of the Maryland Heights.
Transferred to the plateau overlooking the Potomac, from an
elevation half-way up the mountain, seven companies of our
regiment were in position to cover the three commanded by
Lieut.-Col. Andrews at Harper's Ferry. We were in an
exposed location. Deprived of our tents, we sought shelter
under leaves and branches. The scene was picturesque so
long as the leaves were green, and the repose was sweet so
long as the sticks interwoven with branches remained pliant.




5
In furnishing guards from Sandy Hook'o Harper's Ferry;
in closely watching the mounted scouts of the enemy, who
occupied the hills beyond Bolivar Heights as soon as our
troops were withdrawn; in drilling and in military exercises,
-the poetry of life began to harden into prose; the men
began to grumble.
There was no longer the excitement of a campaign, to end
in victory and peace, and ensure our return to homes with the
green laurels of the victor purchased at an easy price, but
there was to be moulded the slow and sure conviction that the
war had just begun; that home was in the distant and uncertain future; that the way now entered upon was to be trodden
with a spirit and a purpose, in the upholding of which, the head
was much oftener to be called into counsel than the heart. In
short, on these Maryland Heights we found that the gay sport
of an hour had been turned into the grim duty of a life, to be
performed with all the resolve of the mind, with all the purposes of the heart, and with a sacrifice of those cherished
hopes which too many indulged in when we marched gayly for
the seat of war, - hopes expressed to me by one good woman,
who said, looking into my face as the full companies of the
Second were marching out of Camp Andrew on our last morning there, "We look to you, Col. Gordon, that you return
again in safety all these young men to their homes."
Never were there soldiers who so easily braced themselves
to the change. The three months' volunteers were now returning to their homes. This was, to our men, a hard sight to
bear. At first some of them reproached themselves that they
had enlisted for the war, then, reasoning with each other, asked
eagerly if indeed they had. After much questioning, many
forced themselves to the conclusion that they had not; and
then, as if to strengthen conviction, they sang, in a diroge-like
wail, "We are going home."  None who heard will ever forget those mournful sounds as they rose evening after evening,
when the lamps shone dim through the huts on the Maryland




Heights. In vain the singers tried to make themselves believe
that what they sung was to come to pass; there was no heart
in the voice, no hope in the heart, and there was despair in
the tones.  It required but the mildest of reproof, and the
briefest allusion to the history of the enlistment of our regiment, to dispel forever any further claim on the part of any
member of the Second Massachusetts Regiment to be considered a three months' volunteer.
That hard work is the best cure for melancholy minds is a
common experience, in which those who attended daily drills
under my command will concur. I gave the men no time to
brood over sorrows, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing
the regiment as gay and contented as soldiers ever are;
for it is to be remembered that the temptation to grumble
when there is anybody to grumble at, strong in citizens, is
irresistible in those who cannot depend upon themselves, but
must rely upon the watchfulness of their officers. Our men
gave way to this temptation in letters to their friends, through
whom by mail I received most anxious appeals, - generally,
however, touching the stomach.
Says one, dated the 8th August, I86I, after alluding to the
"patriotic and intelligent constituency" that the company
he refers to can boast, -" The prayers of this Christian community, both private and public, have followed you." "We
are not ignorant," he continues, "of the fact that many hardships and privations are incident to a soldier's life, both in
the camp and field, but were not prepared to hear that
some of your command have suffered much for the want of
food. We had supposed the communication with Baltimore
and Washington was open, that the Government had supplies,
and that the quartermaster was honest,'  and we can hardly
believe that it has not been the result of accident or necessity.
Some have purposely disguised their feelings from their friends
as long as possible, and none would wish to make their complaints public. They say they are willing- to submit to strict




discipline, to fight, and die if need be, but they can't starve, and
not complain, when the Government is able to feed them.
They all speak in the highest terms of yolzrself, and generally
of their company officers. They say, however, that some of
the officers in the regiment swear at the ieene in giving their
orders; use harsh, insulting, and abusive language; and while
they have seen men punished severely for tasting liquor given
to them, or taking a single glass from over the fence, some of
the officers are too drunk to'perform their duty.' ~ We have
heard, in confirmation of the above, that while some of the
retiring regiments cheered the men of the Second Regiment
they groaned for the officers. It may not be true. These
things distress our people much, and I have been almost constantly besought by those whose friends are in the regiment,
to write you in relation to them." The writer closes with an
admission that civilians understand but little about military
affairs, and should be very careful not to interfere too much,
but excuses himself because he has written " at the request of
wives and mothers deeply feeling for their husbands and sons."
I have given you a picture of the returning regiments who
groaned at our officers in my last paper, in which I set forth
such a divergence of opinion as to the conduct and government of a regiment, that I thought it but natural my course
should have displeased the Pennsylvania volunteers for three
months; who, when they groaned, were absolutely marching
to their homes with the sound of the enemy's guns in their
ears, - turning their faces homeward against the entreaties
and supplications of their commander, Gen. Patterson, that
they would remain and strike one blow to prevent, if possible,
the junction of Johnstone with Beauregard at Manassas; but
in vain: their time was out, home they would go, and home
they went, on their way groaning at the officers of this regiment in their disapprobation. It is needless to say that for
any real cause, all the complaints in the letter were as little
worthy attention as this.




8
There was also a letter from a Massachusetts Senator in
Congress, dated August I2, saying: "Many of your men are
writing home letters stating they are suffering for food, and
these letters are having  great influence.  Can't this be
righted?"  If this honorable Senator had been more of a
soldier and less of a politician, he would not have asked such
foolish questions. He would have known that irregularity in
the supply of food is an inevitable accompaniment of the
movement of armies, and that the better the soldier the less
he grumbles at the inevitable.
But the change in our circumstances from the offensive in
Virginia to the defensive in Maryland wrought another change,
which our enemies appreciated. The neighbors of that farmer
who was paid for green grass and down-trodden fields at our
first encampment at Martinsburg, had themselves suffered from
an appropriation of the contents of well-stocked larders at
their homes. Inspired, therefore, by the success of the Martinsburg farmer, and forgetting that the result of Manassas
effectually dispelled the tender and half-regretful emotions
with which we had drawn the sword, they made complaints
and asked compensation for their losses. A Virginian informed me by letter that, though his ancestors came from a
line of warriors, even tracing them to one of the generals of
the time of Canute, the line in later days had tended rather
to peaceful clergymen than to fighting men: and thus accounting for the reason why the descendant of a line of kings
stoops to sue where he ought to strike; makes piteous wail
over losses of butter, cream, vegetables, and ham, over clover
and wheat and knocked-down shocks, and pickets in his fields;
his clover-seed bags were slit with bayonets, their contents
spilled. "I make no charge," says the writer, "for the provisions eaten by the men, for I have never been in the habit of
charging the wayfarer; but I do complain," he adds, "that
twenty-four dollars and fifty cents worth of clothing was taken
from my servant man Peter"; then there follows as an out



pouring of grief, an ejaculation, " None but Wisconsins would
steal from the poor blacks." It was hardly politic to term us
gentle tourists or needy wayfarers, or to intimate that Wisconsins would steal; and perhaps that is the reason why the
complainant was not paid.  Another sufferer tried it by
endeavoring to fix a personal responsibility upon me, but this
was in Maryland, at Sandy Hook. "Col. Gordon, Dr." the
bill read. The items varied, but there was a monotonous
sound of ham, jelly, and pickles; then there was an item for
smashing a lock on a closet door; then something for damages
to furniture and house.  Whoever had the pickles had the
spree: the Colonel of the Second Regiment had neither.
From the 3oth of July to the I 7th of August - now melted
by fierce heat, and now drenched with rain that poured at night
in streams from that unmitigated blessing, a rubber blanket;
with men and sometimes officers, to-day impatient, grumbling,
and capricious; to-morrow docile, earnest, and contented- time
passed in the gradual acceptance of a discipline which not
only controlled the habits but exercised an influence even over
the thoughts.
By the 17th of August the alarm and excitement from
an anticipated forward movement of the enemy was on the
increase. Large numbers of troops at and in the immediate
vicinity of Washington, to some implied a caution arising from
knowledge of offensive movements in contemplation, to others
not so much a knowledge as a conviction of what ought to
be the movement of our enemy; and hence the military propriety of preparing to check what an enemy ought to attempt.
More than the real result to us, I think, thoughtful men
feared for complications in our European relations.  The
results of the battle of Manassas were magnified for the transatlantic public, while lies of immense proportions were set
afloat by our Northern and Southern foes, becoming huge on
the regular steamer day. Thus before we left our drenched
huts on thle hill-side, rumors filled the air that Siegel's entire
2




10
command had laid down their arms in Missouri. It was
rumored in New York that I,700 of Gen. Banks' command had
been captured in Northern Virginia, and that Gen. Rosecrans
was surrounded at Cumberland Gap. These were lies, as I
have said; but there were some uncomfortable truths to be
told, such as that recruiting was going on slowly, that dissatisfaction with the present state of things could not be dissipated
but by a military success. Kentucky declaring for the Union
after the battle of Manassas was the only bright spot in a very
dark horizon.
Sensibly, then, we had begun to feel that the victorious
armies under Lee would cross the Potomac somewhere from
Washington to Williamsport. The Northern people generally
feared the former, despite fortifications on the Virginia side of
the Potomac, and a single bridge of about a mile in length.
The guards of the Potomac knew better: the crossing would
be where there were the fewest obstacles and the least opposition; and then, look out for Washington.
On the I7th of August we were withdrawn from the western
slope of the Heights, and though at first the order for withdrawal directed me with our regiment to report to Col. George
H. Thomas, Second Cavalry, commanding First Brigade, who
was then preparing to move with most of Gen. Banks' command
for the protection of Washington, a new order, dated the 17th,
from the General Commanding, informed me that the " General has determined to leave your regiment in this vicinity for
a few days longer," and that I would take up a position best
calculated to protect the ford and not expose the main body of
my regiment, and that it would be unnecessary to report to
Col. Thomas as requested last evening. Our new position
was designated on the I8th as at Sandy Hook. Here once
more with our tents we were located upon an elevation at the
foot of the eastern slope of the hill, concealed from the view of
the enemy and guarding the line of the river from Harper's
Ferry to Sandy Hook, a distance of fixve eighths of a mile.




11
The order designating our duty further detailed commanders
and troops to guard the Potomac from Williamsport on the
north to the mouth of the Monocacy on the south. Hyattstown, about twenty-six miles from Washington, was to be the
headquarters of Gen. Banks.
On the 17th, also, Lt.-Col. Andrews was ordered to recross
the river, bringing with him his whole force and all the flour
contained in M1r. Herr's most excellent mills. Seven hundred
barrels of superfine flour were transferred to our side and
sent to Washington, a large part of 25,ooo bushels of wheat
and about i 5,ooo of feed used for horses destroyed.
Thus the troops in the Department of the Shenandoah
entered upon their important duties. The morning of the
I7th of August found us sole occupants of the hills and valleys that had so recently resounded with echoes of a multitude. Where, from many a hill-side, mountain-top, or valley,
innumerable camp-fires had tendered their ruddy cheer, now
but a single spot remained covered with tents. The solitude
was almost desolation in its contrast.
On the Ig9th of August our ears were for the first time in
our regimental life saluted with hostile shots. It was our first
engagement, and was with a body of rebel cavalry, reported as
numbering some three or four hundred, accompanied by
infantry, who had entered Harper's Ferry in time to see their
seven hundred barrels of superfine flour about starting along
the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal for Washington city. We
had a lively time for half an hour firing across the Potomac, as
return compliments to the salutations of our enemy; and
though none of our number were killed, and none that I
ever heard of were wounded, we enjoyed the usual rewards
accompanying such excitements, such as many laughable
incidents, and an unshaken confidence that we had knocked
two immortal souls into a better world. It was all about the
flour, of course; but that did not excuse one of our most
corpulent young lieutenants for exposing his very large person




12
upon both sides of a very small sapling, which circumstance
gave us much to laugh at. But at night the appearance was
more threatening. For the past two or three days our sentinels, posted on the precipitate ridges of the Heights along the
canal, through the tumble-down, slip-shod old town of Sandy
Hook, had reported that signs of the enemy had been multiplying, that tents, wagons, and camp-fires, with now and then
bodies of soldiers, had been seen; and these reports gave day
by day increased numbers.
Upon these indications of the proximity of the enemy, I
rmade the best disposition I could to repel any attempt to
cross the river by ford or ferry, or to annoy us from the other
side. The distance across the river where our pontoon bridge
had been located was less than one sixth of a mile, - not a
comfortable distance with long-ranged rifles that kill at a mile
and a quarter. Two companies, well concealed, covered the
ford, with a practicable road at their backs across the mountain, -a road built by Capt. Underwood, of Co. I, to save
exposure from the fire that an enemy could deliver from the
commanding eminence upon the Shenandoah side, - deliver
plumply down upon the tow-path of the canal or the track of
the railway, where the only possible passage had been chiselled out of the side of the mountain. It was late at night on
the Ig9th day of August that I lay down on a bundle of straw
and single blanket to sleep; but I had hardly lost myself when
the officer of the guard ushered a stranger into my tent, bearing the following dispatch, which I read by the light of the
officer's lantern:
" COL. GORDON, - I am directed by Col. Donnelly to send a messenger to you
with information that the rebels are marching on Harper's Ferry 6,ooo strong.
" Yours very respectfully,
"E. F. BROWN,
"Lieut.-Col. Twenty-Eighth Regt. N. Y. V.
" BERLIN, AID., August I9, I86I."
I put a few hasty questions to the messenger, who apologized for his haste, as he must hurry back to his regiment,




13
though he believed the dispatch to me to be well founded, from
recent signs and movements. I remained for a moment alone,
looking down from the little eminence partially surrounded
with trees, where my tent stood, upon the thousand sleepers in
their tents, so still and quiet that the rushing waters of the
Potomac were audible. The indistinct light of the moon
revealed the dark sides of the Blue Ridge swelling into most
gigantic proportions on the Shenandoah shore. The murmur
of the katydids, mingling with the sweet and solemn voices
that break on the ear in the deep hush of midnight, and the
silent camp, so picturesque on the hill-side, whispered of peace
and tranquillity; and yet behind those hills, pressing on to our
unprotected front, were at least 6,ooo to our i,ooo. I had not
a single piece of artillery to oppose the many which they could
bring to cover the ford. With Gen. Banks' column had departed the three pieces that had threatened Harper's Ferry
from the other side of the Heights.
To me, and according to my best judgment, the attempt of
the enemy to cross the river in my front was probable. It was
more likely to succeed than if attempted at Washington.(which was greatly feared by military and unmilitary minds).
It would have been in entire accord with all military principles
governing the crossing of rivers defended by an enemy; for it
would have been at a practicable ford, the nearest to an objective point, - the city of Washington, - and to reach a country
in which true sympathy would have been found. That it wCas
practicable to scale and take these Heights, in the face of a
good defence, Stonewall Jackson proved one year later, before
we attacked Lee at Antietam; and whether wise or otherwise,
that some commanders do cross rivers at night, rivers too
that are not fordable, without any consideration of how they are
to get back again, provided all things do not turn out as it is
expected and a larger force is encountered than is looked for,
or they are not supported as they fancy they ought to be, we
had abundant and melancholy evidence some few weeks later at




14
Ball's Bluff, on the Potomac. That this attack was to be met,
and that I had neither the guns nor the numbers to meet it
successfully, was my conviction, not less earnest than my
determination to send for artillery and reinforcements, and to
get them, if possible, in season to fight with a show of success.
To give my whole command all the rest I could, I did not call
a groom, but saddling my horse myself, mounted, and rode
hastily into that pestilential hole of Sandy Hook, to the telegraph office in the hotel. Buried in profound slumber, it was
some minutes before I could arouse the operator, and more
before I could make the stupid warders at the gates of sense
convey the least intelligence to the brain. Once, however, at
his instrument, I watched with anxiety for a signal; the welcome click replied.  The wires were not cut, were intact,
though they skirted the banks of the Potomac for a distance
of almost twelve miles to the Point of Rocks before turning
easterly to Frederick.
Thank God for the wires I devoutly did, for upon them
depended my relief.
"Where shall I telegraph? " asks the operator.
" To headquarters."
Rapidly sounds the instrument, as in vain we call for a reply.
"What's the matter?" I ask.
"Am afraid there's no night operator," he says.
"Continue your call; don't cease," I urge with impatience.
Rattling away at the instrument resounding through that
dimly lighted room, and waiting with anxiety, while minutes,
precious minutes, were passing, for some friendly greeting from
the outer darkness, a quarter of an hour passes, and no answer
yet
"Try some other place," I quickly order.
" Where, sir? " asks the operator.
" Where? Some place where we have troops and artillery,"
I answer. " Try Frederick."




15
Again sounds that monotonous rattle, and again in vain;
no answer.
"Keep on," I say; and again no answer.
" What can you do? " I urge.
" I might try Baltimore," he suggests; "perhaps some one
is awake there,"
"Well, try Baltimore then."
" Is this a failure too? " I ask, as nothing comes from that
infernal instrument but that monotonous click, which, to my
undisciplined ear, varied not in sound.
"Try some other station in Baltimore then." And again
that devilish ditty, that galop of the echoes of resounding
metal. For a few moments it was the same straining vision,
and the same painful watching for a sound, to be relieved at
last by the welcome hail, away off in Baltimore, ninety miles
away, at some distant railroad station.
"What do you want? " asks this blessed imp of lightning as
he rides through the darkness on a flash of electricity.
"Is there a night operator within twenty miles of me? " I
demand.
"Yes, at Frederick," he responds.
" Who is there at Frederick? " I ask.
"Troops, and Gen. Fitz John Porter," is the reply.
My fingers ache in sympathy with the late effort of my
luckless operator to arouse a sentiment of life in Frederick,
but I try, and at last comes the splutter of this indolent genius,
who certainly did not claim to be the servant of any lamp or
ring in my possession, as he cried out, -
"What do you want? "
" Who is there of our army at Frederick? is what I want."
"Gen. Porter," comes to me from the wires.
It was the work of a moment to ask where he was, and to
learn that he was sleeping at the hotel; and then to direct
that he be immediately informed that I was awaiting at the
end of the wire an answer to this dispatch: "The enemy,




16
numbering 6,ooo, are marching upon Harper's Ferry. I am
here with my regiment, but no artillery. If the enemy has
artillery I cannot hold the place. What shall be done?
Answer quickly."
" I will carry him this dispatch and answer in twenty minutes," replies the operator. It was one o'clock in the morning
of the 20th of August, - not time enough to make great
preparation to meet this coming force, whose tramp I could
almost hear, I fancied, on the shores of the Potomac. I was
somewhat nervous, I admit; events of the past few weeks had
made me so. As patiently as I could, I counted ten of the
twenty minutes as they passed off into eternity, then twenty
and thirty, but no reply. " Ask for an answer."
No response for a moment, and then the cool reply, " I have
important dispatches to Baltimore, and cannot leave to carry
your message." To say that I was as mild as a morning-glory
would be a metaphor, but not a true one.
Cannot leave in this important moment, at a time when so
much may depend upon my dispatch;  Frederick twenty
miles away; impossible to send from here; the hours passing
swiftly on, and no increase to my force! "Tell him he must
go," I replied.
" I cannot," replies the operator;" he has cut off all communication with this place, and will not get my dispatch."
" Can you jump him," I ask, " to a place beyond? "
"Yes, I can reach Baltimore again."
"Do so, and tell the operator there to tell the operator at
Frederick that he must deliver my message immediately."
The faithful slave of the telegraph at Baltimore so promptly
stirred up that ugly genius of Frederick that in a moment he
answered, "Now I will go"; and soon returned with the sleepy
message from Gen. Porter, that Col. Gordon has his orders.
Tell him to come down to the telegraph office and talk with
me," I hurl out into the night on the wings of the lightning;
and in a few moments the wires speak, -" Here he comes."




17
Then, looking intently into each other's faces though more
than twenty miles away, we spoke with tongues of fire. I told
him of the three hundred cavalry and infantry, and scouts seen
around Harper's Ferry, then of the warning dispatch of the
six thousand received here an hour since, and that I thought
it more than probable I should be attacked at daylight.
" Well," says Porter, " Gen. Banks' instructions are, to dispute the passage of fords, and if too strongly pressed, to retire
slowly towards, in this case, Buckeyestown. Col. Donnelly
has two pieces of artillery, which he is directed to send to you
if required. Call on Col. Geary to send you two by express
train. Can the enemy ford the river? I suggest you send
your baggage to the rear; daylight will show the enemy not so
strong as represented. Send a messenger to Col. Leonard, to
withdraw towards Boonsboro' and Buckeyestown, and send
your baggage there; but don't retire entirely without making
your enemy feel you; he will not follow or attack a determined
front."
Thus ended our colloquy. It was two o'clock in the morning as I bade Gen. Porter good-night, mounted my horse, and
returned to camp. Cautiously I aroused the field officers and
communicated to them my dispatches; then the men were
awakened, tents struck, horses harnessed, wagons packed, fires
lighted, and rations cooked.
Dispatches were sent in various directions; down the river
to Col. Donnelly of the Twenty-Eighth N. Y., for artillery, - a
message carried by Dr. Sargent, who pressingly urged himself
as a volunteer for a ride of ten miles. In reply, Dr. Sargent
brought a reply from the Lieut.-Col. Brown who had reported
the approach of the enemy, that Lieut.-Col. Tompkins of the
Rhode Island Battery would be sent me, and although this
would leave them destitute, they would take the chances, etc.
This dispatch, a curious mixture of ignorance and bravado,
well illustrated the offspring that newspaper clamor and editor
generals gave birth to in the earlier stages of our war. Pert
3




18
in proportion to their ignorance, mistaking an assumed indifference to precautions for real valor, this class failed in all the
essentials for military success, and were deserted even by
their impudence in times of trial.
I also dispatched a messenger to Sharpsburg to Col. Leonard, acquainting him with the orders received through Col. Porter for his withdrawal towards Boonsboro' and Buckeyestown,
and, further informing him of the dispatches about the enemy,
asked him to move in my direction that he might aid me if
necessary; to which, long after daylight next morning, I received a reply from Col. Leonard, that he understood it would
be out of his way, in withdrawing towards Boonsboro' and
Buckeyestown, to come around by Maryland Heights, and
therefore plainly implied that he would not come.
I also sent a dispatch to Col. Geary, at Point of Rocks, informing him of the reported movement of the enemy, and
that from the entryof a heavy force of rebel cavalry and some
infantry into the town of Harper's Ferry, I thought there was
no doubt truth in Lieut.-Col. Brown's dispatch, and asking him
for two pieces of artillery, for which I would send a train of cars
if he would return the same with ammunition and artillerists.
Then having taken all the precautions I could for a proper
defence if attacked, I threw myself exhausted upon a bundle of
straw, and fell into a quiet slumber. As the first faint blushes
of morning showed themselves in the east, I was aroused, and
prepared for an engagement. Daylight invading the domain
of night first brought mountain, trees, and camp into more distinct view, then touched them with that pallid hue, so often to
be seen thereafter, so well remembered as the beginning of
many days in which, before the merciful night closed in, we
had supped full of many horrors. Then came the sun, the glorious, beaming, hopeful sun, slowly rising, and touching with
his golden color the mountain-top, lighting up the gorges, and
driving with his smiles of peace the darker spirits of the night
away.




19
But still no sound of the expected fray, no reports from
our watchful sentinels, when lo! from the summit of the
Heights, there all quiet in her morning dreams lay Harper's
Ferry, as much unconscious of the 6,ooo strong reported by
that Lieut.-Col. Brown as if this force had never any other
existence than in his too excited brain, from whence, in short,
they may have been conjured up, for there, and there alone,
were they ever discovered. To say that I was disgusted,
angry, and mortified is to draw it mildly; and to say, here and
now, that I became reconciled only when I made up my
mind that it was possible my preparations had deterred an
enemy, if there was any, from an attack.
It was not long after sunrise when I received an order from
Gen. Banks, issued the day before, directing me to join my
regiment to Col. Donnelly's, the two to proceed via Buckeyestown to rejoin their brigades. Ours, under command of Gen.
Abercrombie, we were informed, was now at Hyattstown,
where the army would be for the present. Col. Thomas's
brigade would reach Hyattstown probably to-morrow (the
2ISt), the order said. The order then continued: "The
General wishes this movement to take place as soon as it
possibly can be effected. Before leaving Harper's Ferry, he
wishes you to bring off, if you can in a short time, and if not
to destroy the wheat and mill-stones in the mills at Harper's
Ferry, provided you can do so without endangering the safety
of your command." Recommending haste, though not precipitation, I was directed to bring off the telegraph instruments and destroy the wires.
This order reached me about the same hour that a telegram
was handed me from Gen. Fitz John Porter, saying that the.
orders I had just received were to go to me last night, but
hoping if I got a chance I would pitch into the enemy; that
Kenly, at Williamsport, was ordered to watch the fords at
Harper's Ferry, and Geary at Monocacy, and advising, if I
should go into Harper's Ferry, that I should destroy the mill



20
stones. And there was a telegram from Col. Geary, at Point
of Rocks, that he was directed not to permit cars to pass that
point (which he had christened Camp Korpony) should the
enemy cross, or attempt so to do, above him; followed shortly
after by another dispatch from the same officer, announcing
that he would relieve me to-morrow with a detachment.
During the remaining hours of the 20oth I again entered
Harper's Ferry, to carry final destruction to Herr's flour-mill
and its contents.  With the execution of this order Lieut.-Col.
Andrews was charged.  Crossing the Ferry with a small
force, which he threw out as pickets upon landing, his operations were covered with my newly-arrived artillery and additional force upon the Heights, the canal, and railroad. How to
move with the most telling rapidity in the destruction of a
large mill, I believe Lt.-Col. Andrews has proved most successfully to be, in first determining the point at which the whole
motive power is applied; and if this is in a well, as it usually
is in mills moved by water power, first set in motion with all
possible force the upright shaft, and then plunge — when at its
utmost speed, well poised and swift- plunge down an iron bar
among the cogs that take and impart motion to connecting
wheels. So did Lt.-Col. Andrews. The crash, resounding
above the roar of iron wheels, was followed by a tremor as
when a giant dies from mortal thrust; and Herr's famous
flour-mills were useless for the war.  A  large part of the
wheat remaining was thrown into the Potomac, and then
Lt.-Col. Andrews withdrew without molestation. It was not
until the morning of the 2ISt of August that I was ready to
leave for Buckeyestown, at which time we turned our faces
towards Washington, as a better move for its protection and
the defence of Maryland.
Hardly had I withdrawn my artillery from the hill and my
pickets from the front, when the enemy's pickets swarmed
into Harper's Ferry. Joining the Twentieth N. Y. Regiment
at Berlin, we trailed across a country of unbridged streams,




21
through which our horses and mules splashed with their burdens, and over which our men passed in file on trunks of prostrate trees. Houses were small and shaky, and not many of
them; negroes were lazy and fat; and the corn-fields rejoiced
in gigantic stalks. On the 23d we encamped at the foot of
a steep hill, in the flourishing village of Hyattstown.  We
had made twenty-one miles in three days. From hill-top to
valley all around us the ground was dotted with white-roofed
tents and wagon-tops. It was by the light of the stars that
we breakfasted on the morning of the 29th of August, and
prepared to move still farther southward to concentrate for
the defence of Washington.
In the afternoon of the 3oth of August our regiment, at the
end of its day's march, turned from the road-side into a field
within the town of Darnstown. The single farm-house in
view, with the grounds adjacent, called Pleasant Hill, comprised
all we could discover of the village; for the clouds hung densely
around us, and the earth and sky were moist with rain. We
were cold, hungry, and tired. In my official capacity I ate a
supper prepared for another: doubtless my rank saved me from
a blessing - after the meal. That we were to move forward
on the morrow I believed, — I did not know where; but
somewhere, in some position, to take our part in a general
attack upon the enemy. The morning came and went, and
we moved not. A week passed; then a month; and but few
days were left of another, and still my tent covered the same
spot upon which it was pitched upon the first day of our arrival.
For nearly two months, upon the hills, in the valleys, and along
the highways of Darnstown, were clustered the camps of our
division, with their camp-fires at night dotting the ground with
flame. For almost two months we heard at evening music from
various regimental bands, as it fell faintly from the distance, or
swelled in harmony around, until the drum and fife, or the
bugle-call, breaking forth into the tattoo, announced the hour
for sleep. From day to day, and from night to night, sound




22
and sight repeated itself, until it was not easy to hold in view
the grandeur of the achievement, in the strife of the spirit,
with the tedious details of the hour. Even our sentinels,
watching the Potomac, six miles away from our encampment,
softened their hostile glances, and swimming across the river
exchanged friendly conferences and hearty hand-shakes with
their rebel neighbors.  That the round of duties became
tedious must be admitted: provision returns for pork, beans,
flour, rice, tea, coffee, et cetera, were presented with unfailing
regularity; there was no break in morning reports of present
and absent, of approvals and disapprovals, of attending reveilles,
drills, and parades. It was at this camp that our drills began
to receive almost unmerited attention.
The confusion into which our battalion seemed to be
plunged during these simple movements on that bit of ground
called forth great praise when we were extricated and in line
again. Who will forget that double column, closed in mass,
the countermarch and deploy, the changes of front forward
and to the rear, all at double quick, as, with a snap, lines of
battle were formed forward, to the rear, to the right, and the
left; and-who will say that the continually increasing happiness of our men, their contentment, a thousand-fold greater
than when on Maryland Heights, was not due to the constant
praise bestowed upon them for their marked drill and discipline?
While our discipline troubled one Massachusetts regiment,
it excited a spirit of emulation in another. To equal the
" Gordon boys" in drill and discipline was an aspiration of the
Thirteenth; to interfere with our discipline was at one time
the desire of the Twelfth. When and why is worth narrating:
Our camps overlooked each other, and were separated by a
shallow gully. Looking into our camp one morning, soon after
our arrival, the officers and men of the Twelfth Massachusetts
known as the Webster Regiment, saw one of our privates tied
up to a tree near the guard-house. To such punishment had
he been sentenced, for some military offence, by a court-niar



23
tial. He was to be tied up for three days in succession, an
hour at a time each day. Hardly had this scene met the eyes
of the Twelfth, when they greeted it with loud shouts of disapprobation. " Cut him down! cut him down!" they cried, as
in a tumultuous body they advanced threateningly towards us.
In vain did their officers try to control them. For a few moments the aspect was threatening. Our guard was promptly
turned out under arms; the officers and soldiers of the
Second calmly awaited the issue. There was but a single exception,- a frisky Irishman, probably belonging to Company
I, leaped once or twice in the air, howling with sympathy;
he was promptly knocked down by an officer, and suppressed
in the guard-tent. At length expostulations prevailed where
orders were useless. The officers of the Twelfth urged their
men to desist, and during the remainder of the hour they
were quiet.
In the afternoon Col. Webster informed me that if that man
was to be tied up again in full view of his regiment, he would
not be responsible for the consequences. " Yes, he could
control his men," he replied, in answer to my question.
The man would be tied up in the same place, I assured him.
" Then I shall take my men out to drill at that hour," he answered. This assurance on the part of Col. Webster was
serious. A rush within our lines was possible. Seeing a ruse,
suppose they should refuse to go to drill? It was very much
like a mutiny in the division, and was quite time for the General Commanding to interfere. I laid the matter before him,
in time for action before the next day's punishment. It was
quite evident, I insisted, that Col. Webster could not control
his men; and it was equally clear these men must be controlled. The punishment I was inflicting was by sentence of
a court; was not cruel.  Upon the immediate and utter
extinction of any such insubordination as had been shown
by the Twelfth depended whether this division should be an
army or a mob.




24
"You are quite right, sir," replied Gen. Banks.
"Then, sir, will you order to report to me, to-morrow, at my
encampment, a squadron of cavalry, and a battery, with authority to use their arms in the suppression of any mutiny that
may take place near my camp?"
" I will order them," replied Gen. Banks.
I thanked him, and retired, to meet Col. Webster approaching General Banks' headquarters for an interview.
Next morning, and but a few minutes before the appointed
hour for the execution of the sentence, an orderly delivered
to me a note from Gen. Banks substantially as follows:
Sir, - Since publicity is no part of the sentence of the court-martial in the
case of the man to be tied up, I would suggest that the remainder of the
sentence be executed in a less conspicuous place.
Instantly I directed Major Dwight to lay before Gen. Banks
the result of such a concession to a mutinous demand, and to
protest with all his power against any change whatever in the
punishment.  Major Dwight returned in a few minutes, to
say that Gen. Banks, as soon as he had dispatched my
note, had ridden rapidly away, leaving no word at his headquarters of his movements. It was but a brief time before
the hour,   not enough to make pursuit of Gen. Banks
possible. The Commanding General had shirked the responsibility. Like Halifax, once the notorious Speaker of the
House of Lords in England, Gen. Banks was a most sagacious
trimmer. If there was bloodshed, he had suggested a prevention; if there was no affray, he had not ordered a concession.
Neither battery nor cavalry had reported, and now was the
hour for the execution of sentence.  Sending for the officer
of the day, I ordered him to make no change in the mode of
execution of the sentence; and none was made.  At the
appointed hour, while the sentence was being carried into
effect in the same place as before, the Colonel of the Twelfth
Massachusetts Regiment hastily marched his men far out of
sight or sound of our camp. They returned long after the




25
hour had expired, overcome with fatigue, but with not a
trace of mental laceration through our cruelty. For the
third time and last, on the third morning, the same expedient was adopted while the remainder of the sentence was
executed.
Almost two hundred years ago, during the reign of the
Prince of Orange, the people of England looked with apprehension upon the organization of Regulars.
Macaulay has well portrayed the dangers that threatened
the country through mobs of undisciplined men calling themselves soldiers. I cannot forbear quoting him: —
" It was necessary there should be regular soldiers, and it was indispensable,
both to their efficiency and to the security of every other class, that they should
be kept under a strict discipline. An ill-disciplined army has ever been a more
costly and a more licentious militia, impotent against a foreign enemy, and formidable only to the country which it is paid to defend. A strong line of demarcation,
therefore, must be drawn between the soldiers and the rest of the community.
For the sake of public freedom they must, in the midst of freedom, be placed
under a despotic rule; they must be subject to a sharper penal code and to a
more stringent code of procedure than are administered by the ordinary tribunals. Some acts which in the citizen are innocent, must in the soldier be
crimes; some acts, which in the citizen are punished with fine or imprisonment,
must in the soldier be punished with death. The machinery by which courts of
law ascertain the guilt or innocence of an accused citizen is too slow and too
intricate to be applied to an accused soldier. For of all the maladies incident to
the body politic, military insubordination is that which requires the most prompt
and drastic remedies. If the evil be not stopped as soon as it appears, it is cer.
tain to spread, and it cannot spread far without danger to the very vitals of the
commonwealth.  For the general safety, therefore, a summary jurisdiction of
terrible extent must, in camps, be intrusted to a rude tribunal, composed of men
of the sword."
- If the opinions of men whose judgment is entitled to great
consideration may be quoted in defence of the policy we
adopted for the government of our regiment, I may refer to
Macaulay's most excellent comments as vindicating our judgment, when  opposed by Governor Andrew  at West Roxbury,
and for a second time by Governor Banks and the Twelfth
Massachusetts Regiment at Darnstown.
4




26
I now resume our history, to speak first of the portentous
orders of those days,- stampedes we called them, -when
we moved but to halt again upon the land of some unfortunate
farmer, to trample down his fields, burn his fences, eat his
harvests, pluck and roast his growing corn, decapitate his
geese, drink all his milk, eat all his butter and eggs, and occupy
all his house and barns. Such cases were grave attacks of
stampedes, but generally they were of a milder type. It was
in camp at Darnstown that I was once aroused at midnight
with the order, " Get your command in immediate readiness
to move, but don't wake your men until further orders," upon
which I proceeded to put myself in immediate readiness by
pulling on my stockings, after which, overpowered with sleep,
I was aroused by the bright daylight to the consciousness of
another stampede.
When the advancing season brought cold nights after hot
days, when the murky atmosphere of fall rested upon the
hills, and the soft Indian summer began to lay hold of the
landscape, there fell upon us storms, in which the strong winds
swayed our tents, struggling with the flimsy fastenings. Can
we ever forget the crashing of the thunder, the glare of the
lightning, and the moaning of the tempest, as the big drops
pelted our frail covering, and the clouds brooded over us with
a deeper than Egyptian darkness, - this war of nature, with a
whole army enfolded in the arms of sleep, patriot and rebel,
on each side of the dividing Potomac, while the sentinels of
both armies cowered beneath the storm? If ever a feeling of
awe steals into the human soul, it is in the presence of elemental powers; and there, in such presence, while we were
emulating the powers of nature with our engines of destruction, I could, for one, only raise my thoughts, in the midst
of the storm and the power and the on-coming carnage, praying that God, great, good, and beneficent, might bear me
bravely on.
It was easy in those days to arouse that spirit of obedience




27
to the will of the Lord which, rather than adventure, leads
men to deeds of noble daring. It was easier to move the cold
nature of our New England men by exhortation than by
allurement; they were rather Puritans than Cavaliers: and
what Puritans can do when their blood is thoroughly up has
been proved on many fields of battle.
It was on the 22d of September, on Sunday, that our
honored friend and associate, the Rev. Dr. Lothrop, while on a
visit to our camp, preached to our regiment in the front yard
of the single house near our encampment at Darnstown.
The enclosure was crowded with companies of our regiment.
The road beyond and the edge of the adjacent field was filled
with men from the division, silent and attentive. Out of his
heart the preacher spoke, as if inspired. How could he speak
otherwise? There on either side of that river, where repose the
ashes of the Father of his Country, there almost within sight
of Mount Vernon, were the citizens of a common country gathered in arms for the attack and defence of that capital which
bears the name of the immortal Washington. On that same
Sunday morning, with our common glory a common inheritance
there, on the other bank of the Potomac, were ministers of the
Gospel casting their eyes upward to God in prayerful petition
for success in what they claimed to be a cause as holy as this
in which we were engaged. It was not strange that the spirit
which animated our ancestors fell upon us at that hour; it
was niot strange that we believed ourselves a chosen people,
divinely commissioned to slay the sinners on the other side cf
our dividing Jordan. The Stars and Stripes were invested
with a sanctity that made them the ark of the covenant of the
Lord, -a banner before which the waters should again roll back
their flood, as they did before the high-priests of old. Under
the passionate exhortation of that Sunday morning we went
back to our encampment, our ears ringing with the words
which God aforetime spoke to Joshua, -" Have I not commended thee? Be strong, and of good courage; be not afraid,




28
neither be thou dismayed; for I the Lord thy God am with
thee whithersoever thou goest."
On the 26th of September my command was increased by
four other regiments and a Rhode Island Battery. The regiments were the Fifth Connecticut, Nineteenth and TwentyEighth New York, and Forty-Sixth Pennsylvania. I held this
command for two weeks, but this was long enough to contrast
their discipline with ours. Upon my first visit to the FortySixth Pennsylvania, I found one sentinel sitting down on his
post, while another, as I galloped towards him, whipped his
musket across both shoulders and dashed up and down,
imitating quite creditably my horse's gallop, but with such a
great grin of fun and good-nature that I laughed without
control. Here, too, I found, in anticipation of the coming
movement no doubt, dressed in full uniform and enrolled as a
soldier, regularly mustered into the service, a young woman
of about eighteen years of age. She had been in the regiment
about a month; until within a day or two there had been
no suspicion of her sex. I am not aware that her presence
tended to elevate the standard of character in her company.
She could smoke a pipe, and swear like a veteran. I ordered
her to be discharged, for which I may yet be denounced and
politically doomed.
It was here too that (Congress having enacted that a bandleader should receive the pay and allowances of a second
lieutenant of infantry) the Governor of Connecticut sent a
commission of second lieutenant to the leader of Col. O. S.
Ferry's regiment, the Fifth Connecticut. The colonel, appealing to me, asked what he should do. "Shall I consider the
band a quasi company, he asks, under orders of a second lieutenant? The band-leader says, Gen. Banks tells him his office
is that of second lieutenant, but his functions must be limited
to the band. What becomes of the drum-major? If I am
ordered to detail an officer on signal service, can I detail the
ba:ld-leader? Does a band-leader become a second lieutenant




29
because his pay is designated to be the amount received by
a second lieutenant of infantry, any more than the other members of the band become sergeants and corporals of engineers,
whose pay they draw?" I believe that band-leader pranced
around in shoulder-straps for a time, but he was never suffered
to consider himself a second lieutenant.
And it was at our camp in Darnstown that the exasperated
soldier of a regiment of volunteers, tied to a wagon-tail, by
order of the major of his regiment, for insubordination and
drunkenness, gnawing off his thongs, with his musket shot the
major dead, just as they were passing our encampment. For
this act the soldier was tried by a Court, sitting on our grounds,
of which Major Wilder Dwight was President.
On the 7th of October, in observance of a day of fasting and
prayer which the President of the United States had suggested,
the whole division moved to a field, where, formed in close
columns of battalions, they stood with uncovered heads before
a stand, front which, after prayers, a sermon by our chaplain
was delivered. Then, accompanied by all the regimental
bands, a mighty sound rolled upward in the majestic strains
of Old Hundred, as with united voice the whole division sung
these verses written for the occasion:
ARMY HYMN.
AIR. - Old Hundred.
O LORD OF HOSTS, Almighty King!
Behold the sacrifice we bring!
To every arm Thy strength impart,
Thy Spirit shed thro' every heart.
Wake in our breasts the living fires,
The holy faith that warmed our sires.
Thy hand hath made our nation free:
To die for her is serving thee.
Be Thou a pillared flame to show
The midnight snare, the silent foe;
And when the battle thunders loud,
Still guide us in its moving cloud.




30
God of all nations, sovereign Lord!
In Thy dread name we draw the sword;
We lift the starry flag on high
That fills with light our stormy sky.
From treason's rent, from murder's stain,
Guard Thou its folds till peace shall reign, -
Till fort and field, till shore and sea
Join our loud anthem, PRAISE TO THEE!
So long had we now been located in one spot that our camp
began to grow into a tawdry kind of village: we had tradesmen with their shanties, tempting our troops with pies, cakes,
and soap; daguerrean  saloons, - small black boxes, covered
with tarpaulins; and a marvellous structure erected by our
wagon-master. It was a shelter with a roof handsomely
thatched, and large enough to protect the sixty or seventy
horses belonging to us, that had been shivering in the chill
nights. Such preparations gave assurances of permanency;
but who can tell where to-morrow a soldier will dwell?
"Lo, there the soldier, rapid architect!
Builds his light town of canvas, and bustles momently
With arms and neighing steeds and mirth and quarrel.
The motley market fills; the road, the streams
Are crowded with new freights; trade stirs and hurries.
But on some morrow's morn all suddenly
The tents drop down, the horde renews its march.
Dreary and solitary as a church-yard,
The meadows and down-trodden seed flat lie,
And the year's harvest is gone utterly."
On the I3th of October I relinquished command of my
brigade, again assuming command of our regiment. The
weather was cold, but with burrowing in the ground and
blankets we were warm. While the people were crying, " On
to Richmond!" the men were making ovens. In these rude
affairs all kinds of cooking was performed, - meat roasted,
pork and beans and bread baked, and a half-barrel of doughnuts cooked at once for a single company.




31
But the people were impatient. Newspaper editors were
clamorous; all our Dames were Quickleys; the country was
indifferent to Napoleon's maxim, "Never fight unless the
advantages of victory are much greater than losses by defeat."
Another defeat at Manassas might involve fatal results, so
McClellan's policy was one of extreme caution. In the mean
time fleets were being prepared to descend upon the Southern
sea-coast, and keep some of the Southern soldiers farther south
than in Virginia. And still we waited, and the still cold weather
came on apace, to make us shiver o' nights, and swallow a
great deal of smoke over wood-fires in front of our tents.
Some of our officers grumbled because for many days they had
not seen a looking-glass.  It was drill, drill, drill; some reading of military books; a great deal of reading of the newspapers, a great deal of imagination, and a vast deal of hope.
There was much speculation in our camps: would the enemy cross the river? Was this delay that McClellan might
strengthen his position, raise the depressed spirits of our men,
and add real solidity to our army? See, said some, what
made the disaster of Bull Run possible, —soldiers without
drill, their time of enlistment expiring; soldiers who did not
enlist to fight, but to brag; men without discipline, not caring
a rush for their officers. Their blood was not aroused, for they
did not believe us to be really at war with a merciless and
resolved rebel force; so they walked on tiptoe where should
have been a ringing tramp. Against such a condition of
things, it was urged, McClellan will provide; he is fortifying
himself at Washington, on the west at Alexandria, and on the
north, within eighteen miles of us, at Tennallytown; he will
not leave Washington defenceless.
On the Ig9th of October five of our friends from Boston
dined with us at the headquarters' mess-table, -- Messrs. Sidney Bartlett, William Amory and son, Jefferson Coolidge, and
F. D'Hauteville. The dinner we gave them is, I am told, still
fragrant in their memory. If I had informed our sympathizing




32
and pitying friends at home of the four chickens happily
roasted, of the tenderly-boiled leg of mutton and its rich surroundings of butter sauce, of the sweet and Irish potatoes, of
the tomatoes, Indian pudding, and whiskey and water that
made up the fare of the suffering soldier in the field, I fear the
"New York Tribune" would have howled " Onward to Richmond!" with more relentless energy than ever before.
At this date, too, a rumor reached us that there had been
a fight at Harper's Ferry, with a report that a Col. Ashby, as
prisoner, had just passed through our camp to headquarters.
Nine days before, our Capt. Tompkins, commanding the
Rhode Island Battery at Sandy Hook, had written me that
there were fourteen hundred rebels at Halltown with two
twelve-pounders, and that a Major Gould wished him to take
his guns over to-day. "As the river is very high," writes the
captain, " should we, under such circumstances, be obliged to
retreat, we shall have a rough time of it." This was about all
there was to the whole rumor. The captain had more wisdom
than the major. Had it been otherwise, the lesson of crossing
an unfordable stream to attack a superior force, relying upon
artillery, with no bridge or preparation to return in case of
defeat, -this lesson might have saved us that experience
which, coming from a similar attempt at Ball's Bluff eleven
days later, filled the country with horror.
If they served no other purpose, these rumors made our
officers groan with impatience.  They grumbled because
th/ey were to have no chances, and finally, impatience bursting
the bonds of reason, they initiated the movement which afterwards resulted in a petition to the General Government to be
permitted to fight something, somewhere or somehow. This
ardent zeal, born of inexperience, was simply the outburst of
high-toned men, who, having come from their homes to accomplish something as soldiers, were much afraid the war would
end and none of the Second Massachusetts be able to
shoulder his crutch and show how fields were won. Alas for




33
Winchester and Cedar Mountain, Antietam and Gettysburg!
While we may exclaim, " O blindness, to the future kindly
given," we may, we do rest assured that if even there any true
prophet had lifted the veil and pointed to the shadows of
coming events, Mudge would still have rung out, as he threw
himself at the head of his regiment, to die at Gettysburg,
"Forward the Second! It is murder, but it is an order."
Dwight would still have traced with fainting hand, as his lifeblood was wasting away at Antietam, " I think I die in victory."
Shaw would still have moved forward, though before him had
opened the path which, later, led to his noble death on the
parapet of Wagner. Savage, Abbott, and Cary; Williams,
Goodwin, and Perkins, would not have faltered if before them
had been mirrored their own silent forms clasped in the cold
embrace of death on the field of Cedar Mountain; nor would
the rank and file that made so rich the history of the Second,
with their sublime courage, on many historic fields, — nor
would they have put the cup away from their lips, but would
have drunk it even to the very dregs.
It was on the 21st day of October that an order, issuing from Gen. Banks, to hold ourselves in readiness, with
five days' rations, cooked and uncooked, and to report for
orders to Brigadier-Gen. Hamilton, commanding Second
Brigade, was followed within a short time by a note from that
officer to move at once without baggage, leaving a guard to
come on with tents, baggage, rations, etc. " You will take the
lead; the other regiments will follow. Wait for me at Poolsville," was the hasty ending. At the same time a private note
from Major Copeland thought I "would like to know that
Gen. Stone and his army were at Leesburg, with very little
fighting."
It was nine o'clock at night that we turned hurriedly from
the warmth of the huge fires that were devouring the superfluous fixtures of our late residence, to file out from the ruddy
glare into darkness, and take the road to Poolsville, distant
5




34
about eight miles. Our course was westerly and towards the
most distant point in the abrupt bend of the Potomac at Conrad's Ferry. Until we reached Poolsville, which was one
o'clock in the morning of-the 22d, I had no definite idea of
the purpose of our march. That Gen. Stone had crossed into
Virginia, and that we were to follow and sustain or co-operate,
was my belief; but now came the first droppings of disaster:
dark figures standing by the road-side muttered, as we passed,
about entire defeat in a fight that had lasted all day; then
came rumors of the death of Col. Baker, commanding, and
the report that his body was lying in the house, just discernible in the darkness, by which our column was passing; then
followed, —" Driven back across the river; the Twentieth
Regiment, Col. Lee, and the Fifteenth Regiment, Col. Devens,
entirely cut up," etc. etc.  Paying but little heed to this not
exhilarating information, I pushed on a few miles farther, to
encounter more positive evidence of disaster,- men half
naked, hatless, shoeless, hastening in the pouring rain towards
Poolsville, exclaiming as they rushed by, " We are defeated
with immense loss; our regiment is cut to pieces; Col. Lee is
a prisoner, Col. somebody killed, and Col. somebody else trying to hide away in a hay-stack."  Then came indignant protests: " They outnumbered us ten to one. Shame to put us in
such a position!" Then came strong adjectives condemning
souls to nameless places. Then more, recitative, "We had
to take to the water and swim, and they shot us while swimming; many men are drowned. We got the best of them the
first part of the day, but they received reinforcements in large
numbers, and we could n't. Col. Devens told us to save ourselves; took off his boots, said' I'm going to swim for it,
boys. I've done all I can for you,' and he escaped."
As we pushed forward, the crowd of disorganized and
shivering fugitives that trailed to the rear became greater.
Occasionally there were plucky exclamations, and congratulations that our column was passing, " And if we had only had




35
them fellers an hour or two ago, we would have thrashed
them." As daylight began to break through the heavy clouds,
we came to the river at Conrad's Ferry, a little less than four
miles from Poolsville. Three motionless forms, wrapped in
blankets, were being buried by their comrades, as we halted
by their graves. Wearied with fatigue and shivering with
cold, unsheltered from the pitiless rain that continued to fall
in torrents, we saw the wretched daylight break upon a
closing scene over which the elements themselves seemed
to brood in sympathy. Our march had ended, and now from
many living witnesses the stories of the fugitives were
corroborated.
The circumstances that gave rise to the battle of Bail's
Bluff, and the main features of that massacre, belong to this
story, and may be told in a few words.
Gen. Charles P. Stone commanded what he called a corps
of observation, on the Maryland side of the Potomac River.
His pickets extended from the mouth of the Monocacy, on the
north, to meet with those of Banks' division on the south.
Stone occupied Poolsville as his headquarters. Between the
20th and 22d of October Gen. McCall had advanced from the
Army of the Potomac on the right bank of that river as far as
Drainsville, his object being to ascertain the number and intentions of the enemy at Leesburg. In co-operating with this
movement Gen. Stone sent a large force to Edward's Ferry,
and increased the command at Harrison's Island. At Edward's
Ferry, three miles from Poolsville, Gen. Stone made a feint ot
crossing the river, on the 20th, at one o'clock, P. M. Several
boat-loads of troops crossed and recrossed, lines of troops were
deployed on the Maryland shore, as if preparatory to embarkation, while batteries opened with shells upon a regiment of the
enemy's infantry that appeared from the direction of Leesburg.
Between six and seven P. M. of the same day, Lieut. Church
Howe, Quartermaster of the Fifteenth Massachusetts Regiment, commanded by Col. Charles Devens, was seen crossing




36
the river from Harrison's Island to the Maryland shore, where,
mounting his horse, he galloped rapidly away in the direction
of Edward's Ferry. At this time the Island was occupied by
one company of Col. Devens's regiment, commanded by Capt.
Philbrick. From Poolsville to the Potomac opposite Harrison's
Island is about five miles. From the Maryland to the Virginia
shore at this point is 4,290 feet, or a little over three fourths
of a mile. In the middle of the river is Harrison's Island;
where the troops crossed it, it is about I,65o feet in width, and
this leaves for the river itself, between the Maryland shore and
the Island, a width of I,320 feet: to the Virginia shore from
the Island the width is about the same.
Earlier in the day, at about two p. M., Col. Lee, commanding the Twentieth Massachusetts Regiment, in camp near
Poolsville, received orders from Gen. Stone to proceed with
all his command, save a camp-guard, to the tow-path of the
canal opposite Harrison's Island, where he would receive further orders. At six P. M., Col. Lee, with 318 men, arrived at
the place designated. About one hour (to wit, at seven P. M.)
after Lee's arrival, Col. Devens. with four companies of his
regiment, arrived at the same point, and immediately began
throwing them over to the Island. This was effected by a
scow that carried forty men at a trip, and by a yawl that would
hold eight or ten men besides the rowers. The scow was
hauled across by a line between the Maryland shore and the
Island. Up to this time troops had been moved with a general view of co-operation from Harrison's Island; but Gen.
Stone, in his official report, does not claim that any plan
of action had been determined on, or that it was his intention to cross into Virginia from that Island. It probably
was not. It is fair to assume that Quartermaster Church
Howe initiated the movement. At ten o'clock at night this
officer reappeared at the tow-path opposite Harrison's Island,
bearing dispatches from Gen. Stone to Col. Devens. These
dispatches were unsealed, and as they came first by Col. Lee,




37
that officer read them by the light of a pine torch. Col. Devens was ordered to cross from Harrison's Island into Virginia
in the course of the night. Why and for what, appears from
Gen. Stone's official report, in which he says, "At ten p. M. (it
was probably a little earlier), Lieut. Howe, Quartermaster of
the Fifteenth Massachusetts, reported that scouts under Capt.
Philbrick had returned to the Island, having been within one
mile of Leesburg, and there discovered on the edge of the
woods an encampment of thirty tents; that there were no
pickets out; and that he (Capt. Philbrick) approached to within
twenty-five rods without being even challenged."
It is not known by whose orders this movement was made
by Capt. Philbrick. Gen. Stone does not report that it was
made by his orders. Was it through Church Howe's zeal?
So far as it appears, so important a movement, one that
involved such serious consequences, is without a responsible
father.
The order then continued: Col. Devens would march
silently under cover of night to the position of the camp
referred to, attack and destroy it at daybreak, pursue the
enemy lodged there as far as would be prudent, and return
immediately to the Island. Col. Devens was further ordered
to make close observation of the position, strength, and movements of the enemy; but in the event of there being no
enemy there visible, to hold on in a secure position until he
could be strengthened sufficiently to make a valuable reconnoissance. To replace the troops on Harrison's Island, thus
to be used by Col. Devens, Col. Lee was ordered to cross
his command over to the Island, and further received orders to
send one hundred men to the Virginia side of the river, where
he was to occupy the bluffs on its immediate shore, and cover
the retreat of Col. Devens, should he be obliged to fall back.
Col. Lee's whole command was three hundred and eighteen
men. At the same time, apparently in contemplation of turn
ing Devens's movement into a reconnoissance, orders were sent




38
to Col. Baker, commanding a regiment called the First California, to send that regiment to Conrad's Ferry, to arrive there
at sunrise of the 2ISt, and have the remainder of his brigade
ready to move early. The remainder of the Fifteenth Regiment, under command of Lieut.-Col. Wood, was also ordered
to be on the tow-path of the canal opposite Harrison's Island
at daybreak. Two mountain howitzers, in charge of Lieut.
French, of Ripley's Battery, were also ordered to be at the
same place at the same time. Towards morning of the 2Ist,
Col. Devens began the crossing of his five companies. All
told, his force numbered three hundred and fifty men. The
means available for crossing were two boats, one a metallic
life-boat, capable of carrying ten or twelve men at a time, the
other a common flat-bottomed boat, used for ducking purposes, and capable of carrying from six to eight men if closely
stowed. In two or three hours, Col. Devens with his command had been transferred to the Virginia shore.  Then Col.
Lee, with two companies, numbering one hundred and one
men, crossed for the duty designated in the order. It was
about five o'clock in the morning of the 2Ist of October, not
yet daylight. From the water's edge the bluff rose at an
angle of 30~ for one hundred feet before reaching the plateau
above. Climbing the zizzag foot-path, Col. Lee reported to
Col. Devens that his command was in position. Directly
in their front, and less than two miles and a half away, was
Leesburg. An indistinct cart-path, some ten or twelve feet
in width, led towards it.
Along this path, through the woods, Col. Devens started at
once to execute his orders. Col. Lee then covered his own front
and flanks with small scouting parties, composed of a noncommissioned officer and two men to each. It was half-past
seven A. M. when firing was heard on Col. Lee's right rear, -
a half-dozen discharges, - and the sergeant of the party came
in wounded. A half an hour later a regular volley was heard
in front, succeeded by an irregular fire, the whole over in a




39
few minutes, after which wounded men from Col. Devens's
command made their appearance on the cart-path, emerging
from the woods in front. The attack upon Col. Lee's scouting
party and upon Col. Devens's battalion was by a single company of the Seventeenth Regiment Mississippi Infantry, commanded by a Capt. Duff. On the Saturday previous, this
company, which had been on picket duty on the Virginia
shore, had been sent to Harper's Ferry, and now, returning to
resume its duty and reinstate the pickets, stumbled first upon
the unexpected scouts of Lee, whom, carefully reconnoitering,
they plumped squarely upon Devens with his command in
line, and fired, receiving the return volley described.
Nothing more happened until about nine o'clock, when Col.
Devens's battalion appeared, marching by a flank. The command halted in the open space occupied by Col. Lee, and
there they remained about twenty minutes, when Col. Devens
said to Col. ILee that he intended to return again to the front
for the purpose of recovering his dead; saying which, he again
at once disappeared, removing to his former position, which was
between a half mile and a mile from the bluff. Very early
in the morning, before any firing had taken place, Col. Devens
had found that the scouts had been deceived as to an enemy's
camp; in the uncertain light they had mistaken openings
between trees for tents. Inasmuch, then, as Col. Devens had
not found the enemy he expected, he seems to have remained
where he was, in pursuance of the final part of Gen. Stone's
order, "to hold on in a secure position until he could be
strengthened sufficiently to make a valuable reconnoissance."
Soon after the return of Col. Devens, Quartermaster Church
Howe again appeared upon the scene. Crossing from Harrison's Island and climbing the bluff, and saying that he came
as one of Gen. Stone's staff officers, he inquired of Col. Lee
about the position. Col. Lee told him to report to Gen.
Stone, that the troops ordered by him into Virginia had ozcupied the river shore; that they numbered about four hun



40
dred men; that Col. Devens had about thirty rounds of ammunition for each man, and that Col. Lee had forty rounds;
that the troops were without subsistence; and that if the
Government designed to fight a battle and occupy the Virginia
shore permanently, reinforcements, with commissary and subsistence stores, were necessary. Lieut. Church Howe desired
Col. Lee to go with him to see Col. Devens, but that officer
replied that his orders required him to hold the bluff to cover
the retreat of Col. Devens, and that he could not leave; upon
which Quartermaster Howe went to the front alone: soon
reappearing with an escort, he recrossed the river.  Howe
reported to Stone, as soon as he could reach him, that Col.
Devens had found no enemy - meaning, probably, no tentsas reported, but that he had concealed his force in a piece of
woods, and was examining the space between that and Leesburg. Stone at once ordered a non-commissioned officer with
ten cavalrymen to report to Devens, " to scour the country."
At the same time he ordered Lieut.-Col. Ward to cross into
Virginia with the remaining companies of the Fifteenth Regiment, "move to the right, on to Smart's mills, to protect
Devens's flank," when he should return; and " secure a crossing more favorable than the first, and connected by a good
road with Leesburg." As ordered, the cavalry,- numbering, however, only six men, —with Capt. Candy, Assistant
Adjutant-General on Gen. Lander's staff, in command, came
across the river and joined Col. Lee on the bluff. At this
time there had been no change in affairs. The cavalry, without performing its designated duty, having proceeded no further
than the bluff, went back again to the Maryland side. By
eight o'clock in the morning of the 2 Ist, Major Revere, of the
Twentieth Massachusetts Regiment, had succeeded in getting
the scow that Col. Devens had used as a transport from the
Maryland shore to Harrison's Island around the north part of
the Island, for use in transporting troops to the Virginia
shore. This was of material aid in crossing the additional




41
troops. It was now between half-past eleven and twelve A. M.
Some rations of hard bread and pork and fifty empty boxes
had been sent to Col. Lee. The officer who brought the latter told the Colonel they were to be filled with earth and laid
up to form an entrenched position. Col. Lee ordered the two
mountain howitzers, under command of Lieut. French, of Co.
I, First United States Artillery, to be sent over; and as they
had been ordered to report to him on the 2oth, and were then
on Harrison's Island, they came immediately. Between halfpast twelve and one o'clock, Lieut.-Col. Ward, with the
remainder of the Fifteenth Massachusetts Regiment, appeared
on the Virginia bluff, and immediately proceeded to the front
to join Col. Devens, instead of executing the orders of Gen.
Stone.
We now return to Col Baker, who, having accompanied the
California Regiment to the' tow-path off Harrison's Island, proceeded in person to Edward's Ferry, and reported to Gen.
Stone that the remainder of his brigade was ready to march.
He was ordered to Harrison's Island to assume command,
Gen. Stone says in his report that he was " anxious to ascertain the exact position and force of the enemy in our front, and
to explore as far as it was safe on the right towards Leesburg,
and on the left towards Leesburg and the gum-spring road."
Col. Baker was to judge, so Stone says, of the sufficiency of
the mode of crossing the river into Virginia with his command,
which might consist, if he desired to use them, of all the
troops under Cols. Devens and Lee, and in addition the guns
of a section each of Vaughn's and Bunting's Batteries, and
all the troops of his own brigade; and Gen. Stone continues,
" I left it to his discretion, after viewing the ground, to retire
from the Virginia shore under cover of his guns and the fire of
the large infantry force, or to pass over reinforcements in case
he found it practicable and the position on the other side
favorable. If he passed artillery across the river, he was to
see it supported by good infantry; and I pointed out to him
6




42
the position of bluffs on this side the river from which artillery
could act with effect on the other; and leaving the matter of
crossing more troops or retiring what were already over to his
discretion, I gave him entire control of operations on the right.
This gallant and energetic officer left me about nine A. M., or
half-past nine, and galloped off quickly to his command." And
again says Stone: "Messengers from Harrison's Island informed me, soon after the arrival of Col. Baker, that he was
crossing his whole force as rapidly as possible, and that he had
caused an additional flat-boat to be rafted from the canal, into
the river." *
About one o'clock, P. M., Col. Baker, making his appearance
on the bluff, inquired for Col. Lee, to whom, as he was pointed
out, he introduced himself as "Col. Baker."  "Have you
reported to take command?" inquired Col. Lee. "I have,"
Col. Baker replied, and then added, "And I congratulate you,
sir, upon a battle upon the soil of Virginia." Col. Baker then
asked as to the whereabouts of Col. Devens, and was told that
he was half a mile or more in front of that position. Asking
for a volunteer to communicate with him, a sergeant stepped
out, and was sent off with a message directing Col. Devens to
fall back to the bluff About this time one field-piece drawn
by six horses, a piece of a R. I. Battery, in charge of Lieut.
Branhall, of the Ninth N. Y. Battery, came upon the field.
The gun was unlimbered, horses and limber passed to the
rear, to the edge of the bluff, a distance of forty or fifty feet.
Between twelve and one o'clock the enemy had appeared in
some force in front of Devens, and a sharp skirmish had ensued. Being unsupported, the Colonel had fallen back to a
piece of woods about half a mile in front of Lee's position on
the bluff, and here he remained unmolested until he fell back,
as ordered.
* To take the place of the one removed by Major Revere to the west side of
the Island during the night.




43
Col. Baker, dismounting from his horse and hanging his
cape cloak upon a tree, now proceeded to form his line of
battle. As the Fifteenth came in, moving by companies, he
formed his right centre on the north of the cart-path, and
parallel to it. It consisted of the Fifteenth Massachusetts
Regiment and one company of the Twentieth Massachusetts.
A portion of this line, thrown back on its right at a right
angle to the main body, consisting of three companies of the
Fifteenth Massachusetts and the company of the Twentieth
Massachusetts, was under the command of Major Kimball, of
the Fifteenth. The six-pounder gun, with a portion of the
Twentieth Massachusetts Regiment and two companies of
the California Regiment, constituted the centre; while a little
in advance and perpendicular to the cart-path on its southerly
side, two other companies of the California Regiment, two of
the Forty-Second New York, and one of the Twentieth Massachusetts, under command of Lieut.-Col. Wistar, of the Californians, made the left wing in the line of battle.  Three
companies of the Twentieth Massachusetts Regiment constituted the reserve; they were opposite the centre and close
to the edge of the bluff. Seven companies of Col. Lee's regiment were in the fight. The mountain howitzers were placed
on the right of the main body of the Fifteenth Massachusetts,
under Col. Devens. These dispositions made, Col. Baker,
turning to Col. Lee, asked, "How do you like my line of
battle? " —" I think it should be made upon our left on the
brink of that ravine," replied Col. Lee. To this suggestion
Baker made no reply. A narrow and deep ravine, running
diagonally from the direction of the cart-path towards the
river, seemed not only to offer an impassable obstacle to the
enemy, but somewhat served as a cover in case it became
necessary to retire upon Edward's Ferry, where Stone was
then operating.  As Baker formed his line of battle, the
enemy could have come in between the brink of the ravine
and our left wing. Since morning the enemy had been draw



44
ing nearer and nearer, feeling Baker's position and ascertaining his numbers. The skirmish with Devens, and a few shells
fired from the Heights on the Maryland shore which reached
their columns, did not retard his advance. It was now between half-past one and two p. M. This was the hour when
the enemy came in on the front and right, — the Eighth
Virginia Regiment immediately in the front, a battalion of the
Thirteenth Mississippi, and Cudworth's Cavalry dismounted
on the right. The cavalry numbered about three hundred.
The Eighth Virginia came to the edge of the woods bordering
the open space within which was formed the centre of Baker's
line of battle, and halting, formed in line, about two hundred
and fifty feet from the line. The Virginians certainly, as well
as the men of the Fifteenth Massachusetts Regiment, and
perhaps others, were armed with smooth-bore muskets.
And so the battle commenced. It will be perceived that
our line was in the form of a curtain, running towards the
ravine, but not reaching it on the left, and terminating on the
right in an angle, the face of which was formed bly the Fifteenth Massachusetts, under command of Devens and Kimball.
The six-pounder gun opened fire at once upon the Eighth Virginia, so did the supporting force of infantry; while at the same
time Major Kimball opened fire on the Mississippians and the
dismounted cavalry. The gun in the centre was loaded and
fired with energy, but being provided with neither grape nor
canister it was almost useless. At an expenditure of moments most precious, boats had been used to bring to the field
a field-piece and six horses, with a limber filled with James'
percussion shells. Not an ounce of grape could be found,
though Col. Lee searched for it, as he was with his own hands
conveying these shells to the gun. It was not fifteen minutes
from the time the enemy made their appearance before every
man at the field-piece, save one sergeant, was shot down. So
withering was the fire that the two companies of Californians
supporting the right of the centre laid down flat upon the




45
ground. Entreaties, violence, and sword-cuts by Col. Baker
and his officers could not prevail upon them; and so early
in the action they went to the rear without participating in
the fight. When they retreated, two companies of the reserve were ordered up to take their places and support the
gun. They came, and in a few moments officers and men
were nearly destroyed; they were of the Twentieth Massachusetts. While this contest was going on in the centre,
Major Kimball, on the right, had been obliged to fall back.
On the left, Lt.-Col. Wistar had been wounded, and the fight
was progressing languidly on our side, being continued by
detached companies. Our ammunition was giving out; some
men of the Twentieth were supplying themselves from the
cartridge-boxes of the slain. The enemy now showed himself
in strong numbers on our left. The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Mississippi and a battalion of the Thirteenth Mississippi
came into line of battle parallel to the south brink of the ravine
and near its edge; and here they opened a destructive fire on
our left. At the same time the Eighth Virginia advanced out
of the wood, in line of battle, upon Baker's centre, and the
Mississippians and Cudworthl's dismounted cavalry were pressing up on his right. The Union troops were in a square, the
front, right and left sides of which were held by the enemy,
while directly in their rear was the steep bluff, falling to a
swollen and unfordable river. It was now that Col. Lee said
to Col. Baker, "Sir, the day is going hard with us," to which
Col. Baker replied, "The battle is lost, sir."  Then, as if
unwilling to survive it, this brave man moved fo:ward to the
front, down the cart-path, or nearly on its line, and there, in
the front of the left of his line, he fell riddled with bullets.
So near was he to the Eighth Virginia Regiment that Col. Lee
saw a tall officer step out to within ten paces and deliver with
his pistol his fire at Col. Baker's head; at the same time, from
a squad, a volley of musketry was fired at him, when he fell to




46
rise no more. As some of the Californians carried his body
to the rear, Col. Lee saw on the side of his head where the
pistol-shot of the officer had taken effect. He was carried
across the river into Maryland, as narrated, and we had
passed the house which held his dead body. After the death
of Col. Baker, Col. Lee conferred with Col. Devens and Major
Revere and one or two other officers. What was to be done?
There seemed to be no answer; so Col. Lee, as commanding
officer, took upon himself the responsibility, and gave orders
to fall back upon the river shore, under the bluff. But at this
moment Capt. Hardy, the Assistant Adjutant-General of Col.
Baker, appeared with Col. Cogswell. Col. Cogswell, commanding a Tammany regiment of Baker's Brigade, had managed to cross during the fight, and now, claiming to be the
ranking officer among the survivors, directed an attempt to be
made to open communication with Edward's Ferry. Col. Lee
instantly acceded, saying it was no time to discuss rank, that
he would obey Col. Cogswell's orders; and orders were then
given to move by the left flank. About two hundred men,
being portions of the Fifteenth and Twentieth Massachusetts
regiments and of the Forty-Second New York, obeyed the
order; but when they arrived at the brink of the ravine they
received a volley at short range from one of the Mississippi
regiments in line on the opposite brink, and they fell back to
the place from whence they started. And now the Eighth
Virginia Regiment slowly advanced. The few Union troops
that had preserved their formation were formed in line of battle
to oppose them. Col. Lee, with ten or twelve officers and between twenty and thirty men, fell back to the river-side, down
the bluff. The enemy instantly rushed forward to the edge of
the bluff, where, without any obstacle, their fire commanded the
passage of the river. The bank was lined with the dead and
wounded. Boats filled with wounded were still passing from
the Virginia shore to Harrison's Island; and these boats were




47
a scow, the life-boat, and the little ducking boat. The whole
of these boats were capable of carrying at one time from
forty-six to fifty men.
Hardly had this scene of horrors opened to the enemy when,
with yells of exultation, they piled horror on horror. They
fired volley upon volley into the struggling wretches who had
leaped into the chilling waters of the Potomac; they riddled
the scow, filled as she was with dead and dying, - they riddled it with bullets, and it sank with its dying and its dead,
sank in the middle of the stream. Crossing the river from the
Island, empty and sculled by a single oarsman, the metallic lifeboat met their gaze; the oarsman was instantly shot, and the
boat drifted idly down the stream; there was nothing left but
the little ducking boat, and that was now useless. There was
nothing left but to swim, surrender, or die. "With a devotion worthy the cause they were serving," says Gen. Stone in
his official report, "officers and men, while quarter was being
offered to such as would lay down their arms, stripped themselves of their swords and muskets, and hurled them out into
the river to prevent their falling into the hands of the foe, and
saved themselves as they could by swimming, floating on logs,
and concealing themselves in the bushes of the forest, to make.
their way up and down the river bank to a place of crossing."
Col. Devens escaped by swimming. Col. Lee, in attempting
to make his way up the river, was, with Major Revere and
some of his other officers, captured in the woods in the middle
of the night by the enemy's cavalry; taken to Leesburg, he
there found himself in the presence of the rebel commander
who had whipped him, - a Gen. N. G. Evans, of South Carolina, a graduate of West Point, familiarly known as Shanks
Evans from the peculiar formation of his legs, which were very
knock-kneed. Col. Lee says it was hard to tell which of the
two, Cogswell or Evans, both having been old friends in the
old army, was the more overcome at the meeting. Evans had
invited his unwilling guest to join him in a convivial draught




48
of peach brandy, and Cogswell was saying to his conqueror,
"I tell ye, Shanks, shan't take my parole on any such terms;
I'll see you d-d first, Shanks." Gen. Evans had offered
to release Col. Cogswell if he would sign a parole not to fight
again during the war, and this the Colonel was refusing to do.
Owing to the peach brandy, the refusal was given in strong
terms. Col. Lee also, but more politely, rejected Gen. Evans's
proffer. So our prisoners went to Richmond, to be afterwards
exchanged. If Col. Lee could have found anything to float
on, or if the raft which he and his officers tried to buckle together with their belts would have floated, they might have
crossed without trouble. The loss in killed in this fight has
never been accurately ascertained; a large number were shot
in the river while trying to swim. The report of the rebel
commander gives as their number engaged 3,500 men, being
four regiments of infantry and a battalion of cavalry. Col.
Lee's memorandum of the forces engaged on our side, taken
as they came up and reported on the bluff for duty, was 1,603
men.  Five hundred and twenty, including the wounded,
were captured. The battle lasted from two p. M. until ten
minutes before six, at which time Col. Lee ordered his command to retire down the bank.
It!oes not seem necessary to spend much time in conclusions. The means of transportation from the Maryland shore
to the Island, and from thence to the Virginia shore, I have
given. With such means not over three hundred an hour
could have been added to our force under the most favorable
circumstances: how much less with the returning wounded
and the depression of probable defeat! Gen. Stone says in
his comments, " The forwarding of artillery before its supporting force of infantry also impeded the rapid assembling of an
imposing force on the Virginia shore. If the infantry forces
had first crossed, a difference of one thousand men would have
been made in the infantry line at the time of attack, probably
enough to have given us the victory. If any officers or men




49
were charged with the duty of ensuring the regular passage of
troops, it was not performed; for the reinforcements, as they
arrived, found no one in command of the boats, and great delays were occasioned."
Col. Baker expiated his fault with his life. He was a brave
and energetic man. As a Senator in the United States Senate
from Oregon, he had deemed it necessary to make public
speeches upon the conduct of the war; from the Pacific to
the Atlantic he had condemned the slowness of McClellan's
movements, and criticised what he interpreted to be his disinclination to fight. Full of courage and of vanity, he lost
sight of the elements which make success possible in such
undertakings as he lent himself to achieve. But just from a
confidential interview with President Lincoln, where he had
expressed himself as in entire sympathy with the President's
feelings at the manner in which McClellan was delaying, and
held out hopes that should an opportunity offer he would
startle the country with what a fighting commander could accomplish, he saw opening before him his opportunity. The
large powers intrusted to him by Gen. Stone, he never
thought of using other than for a fight, and when, too late,
he saw his error, he expiated it with his life. Would that
some others had done likewise, and that the enemy had captured their commissions as major-general as the enemy captured Baker's, when they found his cape overcoat hanging on a
tree, at the time his body was lying stark and stiff in Maryland.
The demonstration from Edward's Ferry by Gen. Stone was
not so serious as to call for the use of much, if any, of Gen.
Evans's force to observe it. Gen. Stone could not aid Col.
Baker, so he says, by marching along the Virginia shore, because "there was a rebel batter)r in the woods between the
two ferries, which had prevented a reconnoissance in that
direction."
At four P. M. a telegram from Gen. Stone to Gen. Banks,
for a brigade to occupy the Maryland shore opposite Harri7




b0
son's Island, had caused our movement, as I have narrated.
Our brigade was to replace those troops at Conrad's Ferry
which Gen. Stone then supposed to be pressing on victorious
after the flying rebels. Hence the letter to me that Gen.
Stone was in Leesburg, with very little fighting. At five
o'clock, P. M., news of Col. Baker's death was conveyed to
Gen. Stone; the news of the disaster soon followed. Instructions delivered on the road from Gen. Stone met Gen.
Hamilton: these were, to repair to Conrad's Ferry, and there
dispose of his force so as to protect Harrison's Island.
The rain poured piteously upon us all day of the 22d, as all
day fugitives and wounded came into our lines. Parts of
three regiments were utterly demoralized and routed, and yet
there was a plucky feeling among some. A bright youth of
the Fifteenth Massachusetts Regiment, from Worcester, looked
longingly at a miserable fire, trying to burn in my favor
despite the rain; a soldier's overcoat covered him, - his remaining garments were in Virginia.
" Where did you come from, my man?" I asked.
" Virginny," he replied.
Somehow or other he took a long pull at my whiskey flask.
How his eyes twinkled as he returned it with thanks!
Yes, he did have a hard time. Col. Devens told him to
take care of himself; he (the colonel) was going to swim.
"When are you ready to go back again? "
"Just as soon as I can get another suit of clothes," he said,
with unmistakable emotion.
The movement was over. For two or three days we extended our guards along the Potomac, and once we marched
to Edward's Ferry and crossed the river into Virginia, only to
turn round, recross, and march back again. We suffered now
from over caution,- a penalty for the want of it.
Our troops were again all on the Maryland side of the Potomac. Gen. McClellan had visited us and departed.
On the 26th of October, at nine o'clock, A. M., our regiment




51
turned its face again towards Darnstown, and on the 27th,
after two days of marching, away back in some Maryland
farmer's field, skirted by wood on the north and east, out of
sight of the highway and in sight of the Potomac, we made
our encampment; we were about four miles from our old
camp. Here the days were a constant repetition of drumbeat and drill, orders from headquarters, picket duty, cold
weather, rain, hurricane, smoky tents, old newspapers, military
tribulations, vague hopes, and more vague instruction by a
topographical engineer officer, on Gen. Banks' staff, in some
details of field engineering. Here the Sibley tents proved
themselves worthy of their reputation; for they held in warmth
and in comfort some sixteen or seventeen soldiers in each,
around a fire beneath the iron tripod that supported the single
pole, while the smoke curled out of a hole at the top. Here,
too, we received two thousand pairs of stockings from Mrs.
Harrison Gray Otis, one thousand pairs collected in ten days,
votive offerings for our regiment. Some of them were from
the young ladies at Prof. Agassiz's school, at Cambridge, and
these were like the world when it was without form and void;
some were from Campton Village, in New Hampshire, with
names of knitters stitched on them, and they were of colors red,
white, and blue, and there were prizes in them,-pin-cushions,
needle-cases, Life of Havelock, the real Christian soldier, moral
tracts, and much that tended to make the knapsack heavier on
many a weary march. Poor fellows! how many were to
struggle onward under that weary load, but at last to expose
to some stranger's eye the little Bible or the dear letter or
the loving token from a home the soldier never more shall
gaze upon. Friend or foe, whoever he may be, the heart will
ache for such in sympathy. Said an Indiana colonel to me at
this camp, "Some of my boys shot some of the enemy's
pickets; they got their knapsacks, and found them filled with
letters from home and nice things beautifully made by the
Southern women."




Hardly had we arrived at this camp when Capt. Cary made
application to me for permission to cross the river and get
reliable intelligence of the missing in the recent massacre at
Ball's Bluff. I gave my assent, moved by the feeling that it
might bring relief to fathers and mothers, to wives and children, to know that some of the absent of the fight were held as
prisoners, and not dead beneath the waters of the Potomac.
In addition to my assent, I wrote a letter to Gen N. G. Evans,
the rebel commander. It was well known at the time that
Capt. Cary's effort terminated without result. The captain
crossed, but found no one within two miles of the river on the
Virginia side. With a white handkerchief on the end of a
stick, in token of his peaceful designs, Capt. Cary at last encountered a non-belligerent Irishman, who informed him that
if he should come across any of the enemy's guerillas, that
white rag would n't do him any good. "And that," said the
captain, when he reported to me, " was about the conclusion I
had come to; so I concluded to return."
Every day now made it more and more apparent that winter
was upon us. Huge fires of logs in front of our tents ceased
to convey any warmth inside; we had no stoves; holes a foot
deep and three feet long, with a flat stone on top, served as
fire-places; the wood entered at one end, the smoke escaped
by the aid of three flour-barrels as a chimney outside the tent
at the other.  But what were tents in such days and nights of
rain and wind on that Muddy Branch? Our tents were often
prostrated, our encampment a mass of shapeless canvas. On
the 2d of November we were treated to a hurricane, with rain.
A huge oak branch, torn off by the storm, fell athwart my tent,
snapping the ridge-pole like a pipe-stem; luckily, I had just
stepped out to attend reveille.  More than one half of the
officers' tents were down; the parade-ground became a miniature ocean; the rain pelted the canvas; the tent-cords
strained and tugged at their fastenings; while, like discharges
of small arms, the canvas cracked, and the wind roared in vol



53
leys through the tree-tops. The sentinels crouched under the
storm, with their rifles under their arms, and their shoulders
covered with overcoats and india-rubber blankets. It was a
hard time for the healthy; it was a sorry encampment for the
sick. Lieut.-Col. Andrews prostrated with typhoid fever in an
adjoining house, and our hospital tents filled with men suffering from the measles, now an epidemic, contributed to the
dismal miseries of Muddy Branch. It was about this time,
too, that the fleet sailed for South Carolina, to make a first
attempt at landing. Every blast of the tempest threatened
its destruction.
On the 8th of November, during a brief absence of fifteen
days, the command of our regiment devolved upon Wilder
Dwight. In characteristic letters he informed me of the condition of the regiment, and that he had moved it to higher
ground, near Seneca Creek. But the weather would not
change with the encampment. " It is a raw and gusty night,"
he writes; "the troubled Potomac is undoubtedly chafing with
his shores, and although this first taste of winter agrees with
our men, it is not favorable to admirable precision in drill;"
news of the fleet landing at Beaufort, S. C., " makes him jolly; "
Gen. Banks tells him that he "feels -the whole division will be
moved soon," and Copeland has returned from Washington
with gossip "that we are to form part of an expedition."
" Can't you get us ordered South? " he then asks. " Wish you
could see McClellan, and get us out of this latitude and atmosphere into one of warmer activity; it is cold up here,"
he adds.  Then he speaks of Thanksgiving,-" Gov. Andrew would like to have it observed, and he has sent on his
proclamation, psalms and all." Then there are other items.
"Col. Andrews is still sick; his wife came on Sunday; the
measles are diminishing;" he has a "comfortable shelter for
my horse; gets on with drills respectably, though he can understand an occasional gentle hint to.  Col. Webster
commands the brigade; the new officers have not come," and




54
he is preparing to "celebrate Thanksgiving"; also, that
"Lieut. J. M. Ellis has resigned, having received an appointment as captain in the commissary department of the volunteer service."
On the 28th of November I returned again to camp, bringing with me as visitors from Boston Messrs. Thomas Motley,
W. R. Robeson, and E. F. Bowditch. Our camp, though
higher and dryer, was a cheerless spot. Though there were
only ten or a dozen cases of measles in the hospital, two or
three new ones presented themselves every day, while by day
or night sounds of distressing colds and coughs were audible.
No watchfulness could ward off sickness, or remove that condition which offered such temptations to disease when the
right kind presented itself. My hospital tents were crowded,
and thirty men sick in their tents. The commissioned officers did not escape, - Capts. Savage and Mudge, and Lieut.
Wheaton were seriously ill in houses. We had fires in tents,
in stoves received about the first of December. I did all I
could to make the men comfortable. It was the I3th day of
December before we received information that this wretched
spot was to know us no more, that we were going to remove
to the much healthier locality of Frederick. So our sick were
sent to Washington by the canal.
How over one hundred and fifty or two hundred poor fellows,
typhoid and bilious fever patients, and patients with fractures
and ills grievous to be borne, after waiting from 9 A. M. till 4
P. M., were huddled into the damp hold of a common canal
boat, for the hospitals at Washington, - a hold in which there
was not as much provision as the most indifferent teamster
provides for his horse, even straw to lie down upon, until I
ordered some to be procured; and how all the unfortunates
could not be taken at that single trip, but were hauled home
to be hauled back again next day, save some too sick who
were transferred to an adjoining store, where at night one man
died; how when these poor men reached Washington they




55
laid two days in the boat before being removed to the hospital,
and during this time had only water crackers to eat; and how
the whole story was told in the "Boston Post," to persuade
others to enlist, is a part of our history I do not like to recall.
And as well for this, among many other reasons, because it
brings before me again that poor boy Kittredge, of Lowell, a
recruit, and therefore a fit subject for that scourge among new
soldiers, typhoid fever, with which I found him greatly emaciated in our canvas hospital. Too sick to move with the others,
I ordered our surgeon to remove him to Darnstown and place
him in the church, used as a hospital. After we left, by an
order, this poor boy was removed five or six miles to the canal,
thence by boat to Point of Rocks, thence by rail to Frederick,
where he arrived to die, soon after his arrival. It is said his
feet were frozen upon the passage.
On Tuesday morning, the 3d day of December, we turned
our backs willingly upon the dismal camp at Seneca Creek
and Muddy Branch, and making that day seventeen and one
half miles, encamped at night at the small town of Barnsville,
en route to Frederick.
A patch of woods in the outskirts of Barnsville was our
halting place for the night. When the men were comfortable
before their huge fires, and tents and camp-kettles; when the
horses were fed and sheltered as well as I could contrive, then
with the chaplain, major, and quartermaster I started for the
aristocratic town of Barnsville; for there was a supper awaiting us, ordered by my cook in anticipation of our arrival; a
nice supper he said it was. We were positively saturated
with hunger. Conceive then of our feelings on finding soldiers
filling the house and our supper filling the soldiers. You may
rest assured there were no men of the Second among them;
they were all from other regiments of the brigade. Headquarters of the Second took possession of a bedroom, ordered
a second supper, which never appeared. With fifty or more
famished officers at the headquarters of the brigade, late at




56
night, hunger was satisfied with twenty-five cents' worth of
food; it was all the lady of the mansion would accept, and all
she ought to demand. It was fifteen minutes after four in the
morning when reveille sounded. It was dark; the campfires roared among the trees, and the stars twinkled in the
sky, as the soldiers, hurrying to and fro in the ruddy glare,
prepared their breakfasts. At five o'clock the drum sounded,
"Strike your tents!" and tents fell simultaneously. Wagons
packed, horses hitched up, the first streak of dawn saw our
regiment moving out of the wood, along the road to Frederick.
The thermometer was far below the freezing point, but the
roads were in good order, the men inspirited. We were to
lead the brigade, provided no other regiment caught us; therefore I ordered the regiment to do its best. We made sixteen
miles in four and one half hours, nine of them without a halt.
I know how much this march tired a foot man, for I walked
the whole of it. My orderly led my horse. We did lead the
brigade to Frederick, and there, in its outskirts, we passed the
night; and next day, the 5th of December, notwithstanding
the assurances of Gen. Banks to me that it was not the intention to put our army into winter quarters, only to place
them where they could be moved easily by rail, we went into
winter quarters, and remained until the 27th day of February,
in the year I862.
On the turnpike, towards Baltimore, about three miles from
Frederick City, in Maryland, turn to the left and follow for a
few rods a small stream, and it will lead to a fine growth of
timber, which, gently falling away towards the south, opens
upon a grassy field. In these woods and upon this slope was
located the camp of our regiment. The underbrush was
cleared away, and trees that interfered with the regularity of our
camp cut down. The wood became a delightful grove, where
the sun shone all day, to the great improvement of health.
Frederick City, with its nine thousand inhabitants sheltered
in real houses, with its civilizing influences, the result of some




57
centuries of experience, found itself surrounded by some seventeen thousand men cradled elsewhere, - men getting along
with nature in the rough, canvas for houses, straw and a blanket
for a bed, the grove for a church and the drum for churchbells: with these and a few other artificial appliances, we
invited the citizens of Frederick to see how comfortable we
could become when we fell back upon first principles. But we
were not going into winter quarters, we were told; this was to
deceive those who, shouting onward! remained behind; therefore we went into winter quarters by jerks. Boards for tent
floors came first; then we ventured on sides, built up about
three feet high, in which there was a slide door; upper sides
and roofs of canvas, that is, we pitched our tents on top. At
length, it was on the I7th of December, an order came to estimate for lumber for huts: we were to remain till spring.
Cantonment Hicks, as Gen. Abercrombie baptized the encampment of his brigade, in honor of Governor Hicks of
Maryland, became our winter quarters.
By the last of December it became apparent that we were in
winter quarters in truth. Sometimes the grounds were white
with snow, and the parade ground obliterated; then the sentinels ploughed along in their endless tramp; then the trees
stretched their long branches weirdly against a leaden sky,
while the men flitted idly from tent to tent, enjoying the cheer
and the release from drill. That was a camp of comfort: perhaps there never was another like it; the smoke curled out
of the top of a hundred Sibley tents, indicating the genial fire
within, and furnishing food for reflection in following winters,
when four pieces of thin cotton, each about the dimensions of a
good-sized pocket-handkerchief, furnished shelter for four men.
And there was the goodly cottage in which dwelt the colonel of
the regiment. Verily, the men builded better than I intended.
The huge chestnut logs that formed the walls were each
drawn from the forest by four horses; from these walls sprung
oaken rafters, upon which was thrown a covering of tarred
8




58
paper, battened down, for a roof; and then the fire-place
within, -a huge opening of brick, where great logs of dry oak
crackled, and the flames leaped with laughter up my widemouthed chimney, and the fiery sparks danced along the
snowy roof, leaving no footprints of their merry sport.
But we were not altogether idle in that camp at Frederick.
As the old year died, and the new moments of the new year
were being told off on the dial, the people at home were
aroused with astonishment at the latest news, viz. the suspension by the Boston and New York banks of specie payments, while we, utterly regardless of money and its mysteries,
were perfecting ourselves in the duties of a soldier. For this
there were all sorts of regulations and requirements: it required a mental effort to know how to get out of camp,'and
where, and when; attempts to enter and supply intoxicating
drinks to the troops were guarded against, while for all proper
persons restraints were as light as possible. And then there
was that daily duty report, recording the attendance of all company officers at the times and places when and where the men
were required to do any duty, from a roll-call to a drill, from a
company cook's field of operations to the cleanliness of a
company street.
The reputation for obedience and discipline which our regiment seemed likely to achieve at Brook Farm, in Massachusetts, was fairly accorded to it in its camp at Frederick. Such
results flowed from the recognition of the simple truth that in
a soldier's life every hour of the twenty-four has its appropriate
duty, and every duty has but one proper mode of performance.
To know what that duty was and to see it thoroughly performed
was the aim of every commissioned and non-commissioned
officer of our regiment, from the colonel down. It was only
necessary for the colonel to set the example to observe an
enthusiastic and intelligent following. Other regiments of our
division, noticing results, attributed them to an unfeeling discipline. The patriarchal relation subsisting between officers




59
and their men in other regiments, in which the colonel was
" Old Dad," or "Grandpa," or " Boss," or even " Old Hoss,"
and the men were " Boys," was unknown to us. Those who
recognized the especial camaraderie of the volunteers branded
us as " Regulars," —" Gordon's Regulars,"-and this reputation
was known throughout the Army of the Potomac. I heard of
it in Washington from staff officers of Gen. McClellan; indeed, it was said, as a compliment, we were to be ordered to
Washington to guard the city. I trust we were sufficiently
thankful for such an escape.
" Is that your colonel? " said a citizen to our chaplain. (I
had called at the latter's tent for a moment.)
" It is."
The man looked hard at the chaplain, evidently considering
whether a chaplain would romance in that way.
" Certainly it is," repeated the chaplain; adding, " You look
incredulous."
"So I am," said the citizen. " I thought Col. Gordon was
fifty years old, and as savage as thunder."
Many of you remember the enterprising foreign artist who
sold us letter-paper with a pictorial design at the head of each
sheet, described underneath as "Camp of the Second Regiment Massachusetts Infantry, at Frederick, Md., Col. George
H. Gordon Commanding," in which was represented a sentinel on his post at an order arms. There was not a soldier in
the brigade that believed that sketch was taken from real life.
I should like to tell of our neighbors, an Indiana regiment
of our brigade, who upon an order to march at daylight, afterwards countermanded, yelled vociferously all night and slept
all next day; I should like to dwell upon the hospitals, and
the drills, and the recitations; but I must not.
There was not much time for play or idleness or disaffection. The men were well fed, thanks to a liberal government;
were more than carefully clad, thanks to the Ladies' Association at home; were well sheltered; were well nursed




360
when sick; were well drilled and disciplined; were, in short,
well cared for when they obeyed, and well punished when
they erred; and so the machine, well regulated, moved under
an intelligent will. Notwithstanding the duties of the day,
there were times and opportunities for social pleasures at
Frederick. That period of intense life found expression in
intense feeling, and those people of Frederick who were loyal
were so heartily loyal that we never can forget them. The
hour of trial for Frederick had not yet come; but when it did,
none of those who invited the Union troops to their houses,
who adorned their walls with our regimental flags at their parties, and attended the concerts which our band gave, - none
of them ever wavered in their loyalty. God bless Frederick
for its true-hearted women! who braved all and suffered all
from their devotion to their country.
It was here, at our camp at Frederick, that Gov. Andrew
first made known his intention to take the nomination of
officers to fill vacancies in our regiment out of my hands. To
refer briefly to this matter in giving our history is a necessity:
At Maryland Heights, Darnstown, Seneca, and at Frederick,
there had been resignations of our officers, - some to enter,
with higher rank, the new cavalry regiment forming in Massachusetts, some promoted to staff corps, and some, two or
three only, because it was not deemed desirable to retain
them. In the record of the Second Massachusetts Infantry
Mr. Quint has given the names and rank of those who left us,
and the causes which moved them. In filling vacancies in the
grade of second lieutenant, it had not occurred to me that the
Governor would desire to depart from the plan adopted in the
creation of the regiment, - that is, to commission such persons as I might nominate. The appointment, on the I8th of
October, of Dr. Leland as surgeon, vice Dr. Sargent, resigned
through sickness, though without my knowledge or recommendation, inasmuch as it was a medical appointment, I did
not consider as laying down a new rule; nor did the circu



61
lar letter, dated Nov. I, I86I, addressed by Gov. Andrew to
the colonels of Massachusetts regiments, in which he explained the principles by which he wished to be guided in
making appointments to vacancies among the commissioned
officers of the Massachusetts volunteer regiments (which duty
was imposed upon him by Act of Congress), clearly enunciate
a new line of departure. The circular expressed a desire that
promotions to fill vacancies should be according to the principle of seniority in rank; while, as for original appointments,
it was desired, as a general rule, that appointments should be
made by "promotions in the regiment in which the vacancy
exists."  Guided by these rules, the Governor wished colonels of Massachusetts regiments to prepare their recommendations, to be approved by the Commanding General of the
brigade, and forwarded to him. I could not conceive these
general instructions as departing, in our case, from the original
plan, for the reasons given, and therefore looked with apprehension upon being informed by the Governor, on the I3th of
December, that he had substituted, for the two young gentlemen whom I had recommended for vacancies among my
second lieutenants, two others, then to me unknown. With a
certain sense of the fitness of things the War Department had
ordered colonels of regiments to test, by military examination,
the qualifications of those who were appointed by Governors
of States to regiments in the field.
With this power a colonel was master of the situation. In
my letter to the Governor, of the I3th of December, I alluded
to the actual necessity of commissioning efficient men, insisted
that there was no time now to establish a school of instruction,
and again presented the names of P. R. Mason and H. B.
Scott, to which I added John A. Fox, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the promotion of T. R. Robeson. My gentle hint
that those two young gentlemen whom the Governor proposed
to send me in the places of my nominees might be severely
tested by an examination, brought the reply from the Governor




62
"that he had too much confidence in my honor and integrity
to suppose that I would subject officers appointed by him to an
examination that I would not subject them to if recommended
by myself." In my rejoinder, after reminding the Governor of
his promise and action in his original appointments, I claimed
that the question of the fitness of any one to receive an appointment in my regiment must ultimately be determined by
myself; suggested that possibly a civilian could not judge as
well as a soldier of those merits or demerits which make or
mar professional fame; doubted much if an experience in the
militia would aid discernment; referred to the fact that the
War Department had given Mr. Mason a commission since his
Excellency's refusal to heed my application for this gentleman;
and denied that the opinion of another colonel of a Massachusetts regiment, that Mr. Mason was not qualified to receive a
commission in his regiment, should control my wishes to have
that gentleman in mine.* I further pointed out to the Governor that he had commissioned citizens whom I had nominated in the places of Captains Curtis, Whitny, and Lieut.
Higginson. Astonished therefore at the enunciation of a new
policy now, I added, " It is your Excellency's duty to commission officers for my regiment; it is mine to test them. Each
act is independent of the will of the other; both may be in
harmony."  "It is anomalous," I urged, "that the General
Government should have placed a commissioning power in the
hands of Governors of States, which act begins and ends their
responsibility for the appointee, as also the latter's responsibility
to them; each meeting but for a moment, part in official
relations forever -a new relation subsisting, the responsibilities of which are borne by those who are alone subject to, can
receive orders from, and are in every way amenable to another
head, that of the War Department. Such have been the
wise provisions of law since the organization of this vast army.
* This had been urged by the Governor against my nomination of Mr. Mason.




63
I cannot waive this duty imposed upon me, either as to time
or mode of performance."
Then suggesting that there could be but a single motive in
the selection of candidates, in either the Governor or myself,
and that motive "fitness," I asked his Excellency to submit
to me such names as he might desire to appoint in my regiment, and if I was sure they possessed the fitness which "it is
made by higher authority than either of us could control my
duty to determine," I should certainly not object to his Excellency's appointments. My letter ended as follows: " Allow
me to call your Excellency's attention to the fact that there
are six vacancies unfilled in my regiment. In some manner
they must be filled; their services are indispensable; I am
satisfied with the candidates I have proposed. There have
been cases in which the United States Government has recognized and paid for the performance of official duty by gentlemen acting as officers without commissions from the Governors of States. This has been done among Pennsylvania Regiments, is being now done in Massachusetts in the organization of a force for operation on the Southern Coast. I trust I
shall not be compelled, for the good of the service, to fill my
vacancies in a similar manner."
This ended the controversy, and for us most happily. Since
leaving Massachusetts there had been eight resignations of
officers in our regiment, -- resignations, almost without exception, to take a higher rank elsewhere. We had lost Curtis
and Higginson and others, as appears in detail in the record
of the Second, and we had received as second lieutenants, to
fill vacancies, Shelton and Fox and Crowninshield, Oakey
and Scott.  I repeat, the controversey closed for us most
happily; for it gave the regiment, as one of Gov. Andrew's
appointees whom I did not nominate, Daniel Oakey; and it
gave us, as commissioned officers whom I did nominate, the
young gentlemen whose names I have mentioned.
With the commissioning by the Governor of a number of




sergeants whom I recommended for promotion as second lieutenants, the action of the Governor in this matter was entirely
acceptable to me so long as I remained Colonel of the Second
Massachusetts Regiment; indeed, save that Mr. Stephen M.
Weld, of West Roxbury, on the 26th of December, I86I, made
application to me, to nominate for a commission in my regiment his son, Stephen M. Weld, Jr., adding that, before applying to the Governor of Massachusetts for a commission, he
would like to know that such appointment would be agreeable
to me (of which I gave him, by the way, the fullest assurance),
this correspondence with the Governor closed the subject.  I
may mention here that Mr. Weld subsequently concluded to
accept an appointment on the staff of Gen. Fitz John Porter.
There was, however, an interference in a new quarter, and
formidable in its opposition to discipline: it was a peremptory
order from Gen. Banks to release a private soldier of the regiment from confinement in the guard-house at our Frederick
camp, and restore him to duty. I think I had a right to
assume that one of Gen Banks' old constituents in Massachusetts, a friend, perhaps father, of the soldier in the guard-house,
had made a personal appeal for this release, and so it was
ordered; but not so obeyed. My remonstrance, in a letter to
the Major-General Commanding, sets forth my feelings; policy
should not overthrow principle if it could be avoided. Acknowledging the order, I added, under date of Dec. 26, I86I,
" The soldier is in my guard-tent, charged with violation of the
46th article of war; no evidence having been submitted to a
court-martial, guilt or innocence cannot be affirmed. I have
examined the case, and am satisfied that it is proper to submit
it to a court. Not intending to violate any lawful order of a
commander, and convinced that the enormity of the military
offence committed cannot have been fully laid before you, I
have ventured to withhold the execution of your order releasinlg this soldier from confinement until a further communication. I have in my guard-tent, in irons, another soldier of my




65
regiment, charged with sleeping on his post while a sentinel.
It is charged that he was found a few paces frcm his post,
asleep and lying down. It is alleged that the private whom
you order me to release was found a few paces from his post,
asleep and sitting down. Why should one be taken and the
other left? Respectfully submitting that I cannot rely upon
my sentinels if it happens that a few weeks' or even months'
confinement for the commission of this very grave military
offence, is followed by a release from arrest and a return
to duty, and believing that in this case I have in no manner
acted otherwise than is provided in army regulations, and by
authority of rules and articles of war, I have the honor respectfully to await further orders in relation to the releasing of this
soldier from confinement and restoring him to duty with his
company."
I have no record of what became of the subject of this correspondence; but I presume it did no more to mar our amicable relations than it had efficacy in impressing upon Gen.
Banks the conviction that he was acting the role of a General to
command, for under date of the 31st of December I find a note
from him, addressing me from headquarters, Frederick, Maryland, as "' My dear sir," and continuing, " If not any interference
with arrangements for your regiment to-morrow, I should esteem it a favor if you would allow your band to visit my headquarters for a couple of hours, say from eleven to one o'clock;
for their trouble I will gladly satisfy them.
" Yours very truly,' N. P. BANKS,
"AI. G. C. Division."
On the I6th of February we were anxiously awaiting news
from Fort Donaldson. Our line of attack against the Rebellion
extended from west to east, almost on a parallel of latitude.
Tennessee had been entered; our gunboats had penetrated its
rivers even to the northern borders of Alabama; Bowling
9




66
Green must be evacuated; Columbus can give no aid to Fort
Donaldson, for the latter is invested; Burnside's expedition
threatens lines of communication from Manassas. To aid
these movements, which have wonderfully raised our spirits,
our regiment contributed its quota of fifteen men towards
the complement from the Division, -a complement of men
to aid in manning the gunboats on Western waters, therefore sailors were wanted. The plan was to gather at Cairo,
take Columbus in Tennessee, and then sweep on to New Orleans. To aid in carrying out this magnificent undertaking,
Capt. Cary of our regiment was detailed to take the detachment from Banks' Division, and joining a larger command from the Army of the Potomac, proceed with them to
Cairo, Ill.
I confess my hopes were somewhat dashed as I read Capt.
Cary's first letter from Baltimore, written to me upon his
arrival, in which, after writing that he started with sixty-six of
the worst men of the Division, nearly all of them drunk, and
with no guard but two men, one of whom he begged of the
Provost Marshal, he found himself on the way to Baltimore
with sixty men of Stone's Division as bad as his own, in charge
of Lieut. Raguet, of Gen. Gorman's staff. Having arrived too
late to join the main body, which had started, the captain was
obliged to put his men in a room, leaving his two reliable men
with revolvers at the door of entrance; but alas! upon his
return in the morning Capt. Cary found that thirty of his
veterans had escaped through a rear door which they had
broken open. Obliged to go on with what he had left, he had
employed all the police force of Baltimore looking after the
absentees. The captain closes with the following mournful
revelation: "A policeman told me he had seen hard parties,
but this was the worst he ever saw. And this from a Baltimore policeman! You can judge," adds the captain, and continues, "I have tried knocking down, cajoling, wheedling,
everything; but they are a set of the most unmitigated d —c




67
scoundrels I ever met. But I can say, when they all get off it
will be well for the Division."
Sharp on Capt. Cary's letter came the soul-stirring news
that we had captured Fort Donaldson, with more than I5,o0o
prisoners; that a rebel Gen. Price, with his whole army, had
been captured in Arkansas. I was so excited that I ordered
the regiment to cheer, the band to play, and I released the
officers from recitation for the day. At this time came the
news of Gen. Stone's arrest and confinlement in Fort Lafayette.
Why, was not known then, has never been known since; but
as he still lives, to him the people must look for his vindication.
No wonder we were impatient to join in the movements that
seemed to be closing in around the doomed traitors, as we
called them. "They can't recover from this," we cried. Impatiently we waited. The 22d day of February, Abraham
Lincoln, as Constitutional Commander of the Armies and
Navies of the United States, appointed as the day for Gen.
McClellan to move against the enemy. The President ordered
it; and now, exulting in our prospects, we celebrated the birthday of Washington throughout the United States with joy,
we cheered for the victory that had followed victory; the hope
that cheered us, we trusted, brought despair to our foe; the
clouds were breaking away, and at last there was sunshine in
our path; the dark path we had trodden for so many months
at last emerging into glorious light. Proudly and buoyantly
we tramped through Frederick to form in closed lines and
listen to the reading of Washington's Farewell Address. And
we were more than ever aroused to the conviction, that truly
it was a great thing to live in this age and add one's might to
this work.
Everything was hoped from Gen. McClellan, everything
believed possible through him; and so sure did I, for one, feel
in him and his conduct, that I sneered in derision at the anxiety
of the politicians, heeded not the clamor about giving the coun



try confidence or making the paper promises of the Government
as valuable as gold.
On the 25th of February we were ordered to be in readiness
to march, but the 27th came before we left our winter home.
As we moved out for Frederick to take the cars for Harper's
Ferry, again returning to that spot from whence so lately we
had turned our backs, the men seemed almost wild with excitement; and as for me, with a full heart I exclaimed, " How
sad and desolate were we in Virginia then, how sublime and
triumphant now."