THE MELV1N MEMORIAL 
 
out Id 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 OF 
 
 . Jl/ul 
 
 
JAMES C. MELVIN, 
 
 88 CLINTON ST., 
 
 BOSTON, MASS. 
 
 With the compliments of 
 
 the surviving brother 
 

THE 
 
 MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 SLEEPY HOLLOW CEMETERY 
 CONCORD, MASSACHUSETTS 
 
 Cribute 
 
 EXERCISES AT DEDICATION 
 JUNE 16, 1909 
 
 CAMBRIDGE 
 
 at 
 
 1910 
 
,c 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY JAMES C. MfiLVIN 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
Peaceful he sleeps, with all our rights adorn d, 
 Forever honor d, and forever mourn d." 
 
 Iliad. 
 
Of THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 CAL 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 OCCASIONALLY a dream is realized. That a lad in his 
 teens, his soul filled with love for his brothers, sorrow for 
 their untimely deaths, and admiration for their daring 
 and devotion, should in visions see a fitting monument 
 to their memory is not so strange, but that he, in his later 
 manhood, should be able to see his dream take tangible 
 form is almost marvelous. Then, too, comes another 
 happy feature in that he is able to summon to the dedi 
 cation of his tribute the old companions of the "early 
 fallen," those who knew his brothers when all were 
 replete with life and energy, and they alone, with un 
 studied word, devote the memorial to its solemn mission. 
 They are neither great scholars nor writers of note, but 
 their expressions of memory and love come bright from 
 their recollections of more than forty years. 
 
 It has been said that no equal area in the world con 
 tains so many graves of famous people of letters as does 
 that burial-ground, known as the "Sleepy Hollow " of 
 Concord. It is a fact that were all the dwellers there 
 simultaneously to respond to the resurrection -call, 
 Thoreau would be within easy conversing distance from 
 Hawthorne and Emerson, and all could readily talk 
 with the Alcotts, the father and his still more noted 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 daughters, while a minute s walk would carry the entire 
 group to the enclosure where now reposes the mortality 
 of Samuel Hoar and his far wider-known sons, E. Rock- 
 wood and George Frisbie. Well worn are the paths 
 leading to the last resting-places of these men and 
 women of world-wide repute, and worthy, indeed, must 
 be the memorial which will in any degree divide with 
 them the interest of visitors. It would seem that an 
 addition had been made to the shrines of the Cemetery, 
 and the pilgrims who resort thither already ask for the 
 "Mourning Victory" who maintains sleepless vigils 
 over her sacred trust. When the brother sought a sculp 
 tor who could embody in marble the thought which had 
 crowded his brain for many a weary year, fortunate was 
 he in finding him in the person of his old associate and 
 friend, Daniel Chester French, himself a Concord boy 
 and man, whose Minute Man of 1775 had, in one brief 
 day, written the name of the artist high on the scroll of 
 fame. Entering into the mind and heart of the loving 
 kinsman, he gives to the clay and marble an embodi 
 ment which even the untaught at once recognize as a 
 life-like realization of man s love for man and reverence 
 for his manly virtues. Though the dead do not appear 
 in solid form, yet every beholder is conscious that Vic 
 tory ever sees the " Embattled Farmer," whether he 
 stands by the " rude bridge which arched the flood," 
 or on hospital cot, in the battle-front or in starving stock 
 ade, almost a century later, he gives his life for country. 
 
PREFACE vii 
 
 While a generation intervenes between the figure by the 
 riverside and that which holds its solemn trust in Sleepy 
 Hollow, and though the touch of the great artist is seen 
 in many a labor elsewhere, even he must grant that all 
 other work, however beautiful, lacks the soul which 
 home and heart have imparted to his earliest and his 
 latest. To paint the lily has ever been deemed the sever 
 est of tasks, yet even this, our artist, inspired by friend 
 ship and appreciation of the true and the beautiful, has 
 accomplished in that his chisel and genius have added 
 new interest to the home of the dead in Concord. 
 
 ALFRED S. ROE, Editor. 
 

 CONTENTS 
 
 THE MEMORIAL . . . . . .1 
 
 THE DEDICATION OF THE MEMORIAL ... 4 
 
 THE DINNER 21 
 
 POST-PRANDIAL SPEECHES, COL. J. PAYSON BRAD 
 LEY PRESIDING 24 
 
 JAMES C. MELVIN 26 
 
 SIDNEY POORE . . . . . . . 31 
 
 Lucius A. WILDER 32 
 
 CAPT. WILLIAM H. MERROW . . . .36 
 
 E. K. JENKINS 40 
 
 FRANK E. FARNHAM 42 
 
 COL. JOHN W. HART 47 
 
 S. C. FROST 50 
 
 LEWIS G. HOLT .52 
 
 S. B. DEARBORN ...... 54 
 
 CHARLES H. SHAW 58 
 
 LUTHER WAIT 59 
 
 GEORGE S. GIBSON 61 
 
 JOSEPH E. WILEY 64 
 
 GEORGE H. LEWIS . . . . . -65 
 
x CONTENTS 
 
 HENRY M. HAWKINS ... . .68 
 
 GEORGE F. WHEELER 69 
 
 GEORGE B. CLARK 70 
 
 DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 77 
 
 APPENDIX: 
 
 A. THE NAMES OF THOSE PRESENT AT THE EXER 
 CISES 137 
 
 B. A SKETCH OF THE FIRST MASSACHUSETTS HEAVY 
 ARTILLERY. BY ALFRED S. ROE . . .141 
 
 C. THE MORTALITY AT ANDERSONVILLE . . 145 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 MOURNING VICTORY Frontispiece 
 
 From the Melvin Memorial by Daniel Chester French. 
 Reproduced from the original clay model (reversed). 
 
 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL, SLEEPY HOLLOW CEMETERY, 
 CONCORD, MASS. ....... i 
 
 Daniel Chester French, Sculptor ; Henry Bacon, Architect. 
 From a photograph by Herbert W. Gleason. 
 
 ASA HEALD MELVIN 12 
 
 From a photograph by Brady. 
 
 JOHN HEALD MELVIN 14 
 
 From a photograph by Brady. 
 
 SAMUEL MELVIN 16 
 
 From an ambrotype taken during the war. 
 
 THE TABLETS, MELVIN MEMORIAL . . . . 18 
 
 From a photograph by Herbert W. Gleason. 
 
 THE MELVIN HOMESTEAD OFF THE LOWELL ROAD, 
 CONCORD, MASS 28 
 
 Built during the latter part of eighteenth century. 
 
 Burned by vandals in 1903. 
 
 From a painting by Stacy Tolman in 1886. 
 
 VETERANS OF FIRST MASSACHUSETTS HEAVY ARTIL 
 LERY AT THE DEDICATION, JUNE 16, 1909 . . 50 
 
 From a photograph by Notman. 
 
xii ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FACSIMILE OF THE LAST TWO PAGES OF THE DIARY 
 KEPT BY SAMUEL MELVIN IN ANDERSONVILLE . 78 
 
 THE BUGLE . 
 
 This was used by Bugler J. Payson Bradley, who sounded the charge 
 June 16, 1864, in the battle before Petersburg, Va., in which Asa H. 
 Melvin was killed. It was also used by Col. J. Payson Bradley to 
 sound taps June 16, 1909, at the dedication of the Melvin Memorial. 
 The same cord is on the bugle now (1910) that was used during the 
 war. 
 
 From a photograph by N. L. Stebbins. 
 
THE "PINE-BEMURMURED RIDGE" 
 
 From the poem, read by James Russell Lowell, at the Centennial of the 
 Fight at Concord Bridge, April 19, 17/5. The title refers to that part 
 of " Sleepy Hollow " where rest Hawthorne, Thoreau, and Emerson. 
 
 FREEDOM 
 
 " Why cometh she hither to-day 
 To this low village of the plain 
 Far from the Present s loud highway, 
 From Trade s cool heart and seething brain ? 
 Why cometh she ? She was not far away. 
 Since the soul touched it, not in vain, 
 With pathos of immortal gain, 
 T is here her fondest memories stay. 
 She loves yon pine-bemurmured ridge 
 Where now our broad-browed poet sleeps, 
 Dear to both England* ; near him he 
 Who wore the ring of Canace ; 
 But most her heart to rapture leaps 
 Where stood that era-parting bridge, 
 O er which, with footfall still as dew, 
 The Old Time passed into the New; 
 Where, as your stealthy river creeps, 
 He whispers to his listening weeds 
 Tales of sublimest homespun deeds. 
 Here English law and English thought 
 Gainst the self-will of England fought; 
 And here were men (coequal with their fate), 
 Who did great things, unconscious they were great." 
 
OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
MEMORIAL 
 
 THE MEMORIAL which Mr. James C. Melvin has 
 caused to be erected in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Con 
 cord, M^ss., to his three brothers, Asa Heald Mel 
 vin, John Heald Melvin, and Samuel Melvin, sons 
 of Asa * and Caroline 2 (Heald) Melvin who, en 
 listing as private soldiers in the United States service in 
 the Civil War, had died either in battle, hospital, or 
 Rebel prison, was dedicated on Wednesday, June 16, 
 1909, the anniversary of the charge at Petersburg in 
 which one of the three was killed. Although nearly 
 forty-five years had elapsed since the close of the war, 
 eighty-eight members of the First Massachusetts Heavy 
 Artillery, the regiment of which the three brothers 
 whose services were commemorated had been members, 
 responded to Mr. Melvin s invitation to dedicate the 
 Memorial. They were escorted to and from the ceme 
 tery by twenty of the twenty-five surviving members 
 of Old Concord Post, No. 180, G. A. R. 
 
 The Memorial, which is the work of Daniel Chester 
 
 French, the sculptor of the Minute Man at the Old 
 
 North Bridge, and a life-long friend of Mr. Melvin, 
 
 is in the general style of the Italian Renaissance. It 
 
 1 1804-1858. * 1810-1863. 
 
2 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 consists of a central shaft about twenty feet in height 
 resting on a platform twenty-five feet by eight feet, with 
 retaining walls on the back and sides. At either end is 
 a seat, and steps extending entirely across the front 
 afford access to the platform. The whole is executed in 
 Knoxville marble. The central shaft, of which the upper 
 ten or twelve feet form a monolith, has carved upon it, 
 in relief and intaglio, a female figure seven feet in height, 
 representing a mourning Victory, enveloped in the 
 American flag. The right hand lifts the folds of the flag, 
 revealing the head and the body of the figure, while the 
 left, outstretched, holds a laurel branch. The head is 
 inclined somewhat downward, with eyes downcast, as 
 if watching over the three tablets inserted in the floor 
 of the monument. The tablets are of dark slate, six feet 
 by three feet, set side by side, and bear the names, dates, 
 and places of death, in bronze letters, of the three men 
 they commemorate. A musket and wreath in bronze are 
 inlaid in each tablet, occupying the space above the 
 inscription. 
 Upon the central shaft is inscribed the following : - 
 
 IN MEMORY OF THREE BROTHERS BORN IN CONCORD WHO AS 
 PRIVATE SOLDIERS GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE WAR TO SAVE THE 
 COUNTRY THIS MEMORIAL IS PLACED HERE BY THEIR SURVIVING 
 BROTHER, HIMSELF A PRIVATE SOLDIER IN THE SAME WAR 
 
 SALUTE THE SACRED DEAD 
 WHO WENT AND WHO RETURN NOT 1 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 3 
 
 And the inscriptions upon the tablets read: 
 
 ASA HEALD MELVIN JOHN HEALD MELVIN SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 TAKEN PRISONER AT 
 
 HARRIS S FARM, VA. 
 
 MAY IQ, 1864 
 
 DIED AT 
 
 ANDERSONVILLE, GA. 
 SEPTEMBER, 1864 
 
 KILLED 
 
 IN BATTLE BEFORE 
 
 PETERSBURG, VA. 
 
 JUNE l6, 1864 
 
 DIED IN A 
 MILITARY HOSPITAL 
 
 AT 
 
 FORT ALBANY, VA. 
 
 OCTOBER 13 
 
 l86 3 
 
 MEMBERS OF COMPANY K, FIRST MASSACHUSETTS HEAVY ARTILLERY 
 
DEDICATION 
 
 COLONEL J. PAYSON BRADLEY was in general charge 
 of the arrangements for the day, and Lieutenant Peter 
 D. Smith, on behalf of the President of the First Massa 
 chusetts Heavy Artillery Association, took charge of the 
 programme at the Memorial ; both Comrades are vet 
 erans of the regiment, and Past Commanders of the De 
 partment of Massachusetts, G. A. R. The ceremony of 
 dedication was performed by the Heavy Artillery, whose 
 members reached Concord at 9.52 A. M. in two special 
 cars from Boston, and were taken in barges to the ar 
 mory of Company I, Sixth Massachusetts Infantry, the 
 headquarters of Old Concord Post, on Walden Street. 
 At the entrance to the armory two members of Com 
 pany I, Sixth Infantry, M. V. M., were on guard. As 
 sembling by companies in the drill-hall, the visiting 
 veterans were addressed by Colonel Bradley, who out 
 lined the arrangements, and then said : - 
 
 "Comrades, I wish to introduce to you Comrade 
 James C. Melvin, the remaining one of the four Melvin 
 brothers who served in the Union army. [Applause.] 
 I wish to introduce him so that you may know the com 
 rade whose invitation we have accepted to-day, and 
 whose purpose of many years ago is about to be accom- 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 5 
 
 plished. He is more than happy, he tells me, to see so 
 many of the old regiment turn out to honor the memory 
 of his three brothers, members of Company K of this 
 regiment, who gave their lives in the service of the 
 Union, and whose memorial we dedicate this day." 
 
 After Mr. Melvin had bowed an acknowledgment, 
 Colonel Bradley continued, "This is one of the most 
 pleasing and yet sad ceremonies that it has ever been 
 our duty to perform. Comrade Smith has consented to 
 take charge of the programme until we return to the 
 hotel at the close of the exercises at the Memorial. I 
 now turn you over to his direction." 
 
 Cheers for the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery 
 were given by the Post, and for the Grand Army of the 
 Republic by the Veterans of the Association. Then the 
 Post, George F. Wheeler commanding, escorted the 
 visiting regiment to the cemetery, where a detail from 
 Company I of the Sixth, under the command of Ser 
 geant Albertus L. Dakin, was guarding the grounds 
 surrounding the Memorial. Pleasure was added to the 
 programme of dedication by the presence and singing of 
 the Grand Army Glee Club, consisting of Colonel Wil 
 liam M. Olin, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Past 
 Department Commander Silas A. Barton, Comrades 
 John Gardner, Frank B. Perkins, and Isaac F. Kings- 
 bury. Lieutenant Smith opened the exercises at 
 II A. M., saying: 
 
 "Comrades and Friends: I stand before you to-day 
 
6 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 representing the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, 
 although not President of the Association. The Presi 
 dent, finding his voice unequal to the task, desires me 
 to take charge of the exercises at the cemetery. We are 
 standing in this silent camping-ground of the dead, 
 where many of our comrades who went with us in 186 1 
 and 1865 are sleeping, resting, waiting for the roll-call 
 above. A few of us have come here to-day to assist our 
 Comrade Melvin in dedicating this monument to the 
 memory of his three brothers who went forthwith us in 
 the days of 6 1 in the defence of our country, but who 
 long since passed on to the other shore and are waiting 
 for us there. We hope there are yet some years for us, 
 but still we realize that they are telling and the time is 
 coming soon when we too must enter and be enrolled 
 with those who have crossed over the river. 
 
 "It recalls to us, Comrades and Friends, those (Jays 
 when these three boys were young, the same as we, and 
 they went out in Company K of the First Heavy Artil 
 lery, which was at first the Fourteenth Infantry, and 
 gave the best of their years to the service of our country. 
 We wish they could be with us upon some other occa 
 sion than this; but their battle has been fought, their 
 victory won, and they are now waiting for those of us 
 who tarry here a little longer, to come and join with 
 them in the great parade above. Comrade Bradley has 
 brought that ever-memorable bugle that he used as 
 a boy in the regiment, sounding the Charge and the 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 7 
 
 Assembly, and he will give us the call for the latter 
 order first." 
 
 Comrade Bradley then sounded the Assembly, using 
 for the purpose the bugle with which he, as regimental 
 bugler, had sounded the charge at Petersburg, June 16, 
 1864. 
 
 Next followed Walter Kittredge s famous song, 
 "Tenting to-night on the Old Camp Ground," as sung 
 by the Glee Club, after which the Rev. Comrade John 
 W. Brownville (Co. I) of Gloucester invoked God s 
 presence and blessing, saying : - 
 
 "Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, our ever- 
 present and personal friend, we thank Thee for what 
 Thou hast already wrought in our behalf in connection 
 with this day s proceedings. We thank Thee for the 
 natural sunshine, and we pray that we may also realize 
 the sunshine which comes from a consciousness of Thy 
 divine presence. And before we proceed further, we de 
 sire to look into Thy face, we desire to invoke Thy bless 
 ing upon all who are immediately interested in this 
 event, and we pray for a blessing upon all who may read 
 an account of these proceedings in the press. Help us 
 to realize Thy presence. 
 
 " Thou art here, O God, and we desire to realize Thy 
 blessing in prompting so many of the comrades of these 
 brave men, who gave their lives so freely for the Union, 
 
8 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 to come here to-day, and we believe that they must ever 
 esteem it as one of the greatest privileges of their entire 
 lives, that they were permitted to bear a part in these 
 exercises. 
 
 " We invoke Thy blessing, O God, upon this man, our 
 comrade, who long ago resolved, with a heart full of 
 fraternal love, to erect that which should be a perpetual 
 reminder to himself and all beholders of the devotion of 
 his three brave brothers, of their patriotism, and of the 
 manner in which they showed their love for their im 
 perilled country. We ask, O God, that Thy blessing 
 may rest upon these friends who are related in any way 
 to our departed heroes. God help us to keep ever in 
 memory those who at home performed deeds of valor 
 and made sacrifices greater in many respects than any 
 that were made by the boys at the front; and we 
 further ask that Thy special blessing may rest upon the 
 immediate representatives of this family, of such un 
 faltering patriotism that they were willing to send four 
 of their boys to fight the battles for the Union. All the 
 anguish in that home, these friends, this surviving bro 
 ther, may remember. We pray that Thou wilt comfort 
 him as he stands here in the presence of this Memorial, 
 and as he remembers the circumstances under which 
 these boys went forth to fight ; and we pray that Thou 
 wilt wonderfully bless him for this act of love and for his 
 thoughtful remembrance of the members of the regi 
 ment in which his brothers served. We trust, O God, 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 9 
 
 that this may be in many respects the most satisfactory 
 moment that he has ever known, and to his fellow 
 veterans, the most interesting occasion on which they 
 have ever gathered to pay loving respect to their fallen 
 friends. 
 
 "O Lord, thou knowest just what is fitting. We 
 need not wait long in Thy presence. Thou knowest our 
 hearts. We ask that Thy blessing may rest in its richest 
 form upon all who are concerned in this event. Bless all 
 of us in such a way that God shall be honored, the rela 
 tives of these deceased comrades comforted, and all 
 heaven made to rejoice over an act at once so gracious 
 and so full of friendship, love, and loyalty. Let the bless 
 ing come, O God, and unto Thy name, Father, Son, and 
 Spirit, will we give all the praise. Amen." 
 
 A poem for the occasion had been hastily written 
 by Comrade W T illiam Sharrock (Co. F.), Lawrence. 
 Though he was wounded, with so many others of his 
 regiment, June 18, 1864, in one of the many fights in 
 front of Petersburg, he came home with all of his 
 limbs. July 4, 1865, when the City of Lawrence was 
 celebrating Independence Day and Appomattox, at 
 one and the same time, while assisting in firing a 
 cannon, Sharrock had the terrible misfortune to lose 
 both arms through the premature discharge of the gun. 
 Acquiring the ability to write with a pen held between 
 his teeth, for many years he thus wrote his letters, but 
 
io THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 failing eyesight compelled him to use a pen fitted to 
 an artificial hand. This he says is not so convenient. 
 The poem was then read by Comrade Wm. J. 
 Mansfield (Co. L), Wakefield, Secretary of the Asso 
 ciation. 
 
 MOVE SOFTLY 
 
 Hush! move softly where you tread. 
 T is hallowed by our noble dead. 
 The clash of battle now is o er, 
 They now await the eternal shore. 
 Nay, not eternal; they rest awhile. 
 The reveille will form the file. 
 They ll answer to the Captain s call, 
 And, "Here!" answer one and all. 
 
 The Captain watched the glorious fight 
 Yes, guided He both day and night, 
 Permit He could not sin to sway, 
 And destined it must pass away. 
 Reign on forever, Peace and Truth, 
 Contend for this, ye men and youth. 
 That when the final roll shall call 
 You ll answer "Here!" one and all. 
 
 Hush ! move softly where you tread. 
 They sleep within their narrow bed, 
 And now await the trumpet s sound 
 To pace upon celestial ground. 
 The bugle sounds at Captain s will. 
 Be fervent all! Be still! Be still! 
 The reveille will soon be called, 
 They ll answer "Here!" one and all. 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL u 
 
 Hush ! move softly where you tread. 
 T is hallowed by the noble dead 
 Not dead! resurgent (to rise again); 
 To join with Angels sweet refrain; 
 They but await the bugle s sound 
 To pace upon celestial ground, 
 That when the reveille shall sound its call, 
 They ll answer "Here!" one and all. 
 
 Here, the Glee Club rendered Mrs. Julia Ward Howe s 
 "Battle Hymn of the Republic." 
 
 Comrade J. Payson Bradley (Co. B.), Boston, then 
 gave the following impromptu address : - 
 
 Comrades of the old First Massachusetts Heavy 
 Artillery and good friends assembled here to-day: As 
 the youngest member of the old regiment present, and 
 as one who forty-five years ago to-day was in front of 
 Petersburg, where one of the Melvin boys lost his life, 
 it has become my sweet, sad duty, by the request of the 
 surviving brother of that family, to address you on the 
 occasion of the dedication of this memorial to his three 
 brothers, members of Company K of our regiment, who 
 went out but did not return. Our regiment, it seems to 
 me, always had sudden calls to duty, and I would not be 
 true to the patriotic tradition of its birthplace, old Essex 
 County, or to this family whom we honor to-day, or to 
 my own family, if I did not act the part of the minute 
 man by responding at almost a moment s notice to a 
 duty such as we are performing. 
 
 Over one hundred years ago this part of our country 
 
12 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 was stirred by the midnight ride of Paul Revere. From 
 Boston to Lexington and towards Concord he rode, 
 giving notice that the English army was coming out to 
 this town to destroy military stores which had been here 
 gathered. This family, which had seen service under the 
 Provincial Governors at Crown Point, at Louisburg, 
 and at Quebec, did not forget their duty when that hour 
 of danger came, and it was a Melvin who rang the bell 
 at Concord to notify the people of the oncoming of the 
 invader. As they were represented all through the 
 Colonial and Indian wars and in the War of the Revo 
 lution, you are not surprised, my friends, to know that 
 they were not wanting when this country which their 
 forefathers helped to found was in danger, and they 
 sprang again to arms when our great commander, 
 Abraham Lincoln, directed the loyal men of the 
 country to assemble in defence of our national capi 
 tal. 
 
 " One of the boys from the plough in the field, with 
 only a few moments warning, without even going home 
 to put on different raiment, went to the armory of your 
 home company of the Fifth Massachusetts militia, en 
 rolled himself in it, and went forth to battle for his coun 
 try. And as the war progressed, one after another of 
 these boys entered the army, until, before the close of 
 the war, the four brothers were serving under the Stars 
 and Stripes, which you, my comrades, carry in this 
 solemn yet glad procession to-day. There were other 
 
V of THE 
 
 UHIVERB.T 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 13 
 
 families that were represented by the entire male mem 
 bership, but there were not many in which four brothers, 
 leaving behind a widowed mother and two sisters, went 
 forth with their commendation and blessing and fought 
 for the Union and the flag, and you will find still less, 
 that, when the war was over, had only a single mem 
 ber to return and keep in lasting memory the pa 
 triotic service which three of them sealed with their 
 lives. 
 
 "It is certainly very happy, even amid these symbols of 
 mourning, for the old regiment to assemble here to-day 
 at the kind invitation of the remaining brother, and with 
 him dedicate this beautiful memorial to the three bro 
 thers, older than himself, who laid down their lives 
 that the nation might be preserved. We honor not only 
 the brothers who have passed over, but we would, in 
 this large assembly of the old regiment to-day, honor 
 him who remains, who after the war vowed that if pros 
 perity came to him he would erect a memorial to those 
 who were near and dear to him; and to-day we 
 see before us that vow fulfilled. How appropriately 
 and how beautifully it has been carried out is shown 
 by this figure representing Mourning Victory ; for, 
 Comrades, you know that all our victories brought 
 with them the stirring of our hearts tenderest feeling, 
 and a tear for those whose death made the victory pos 
 sible. 
 
 "We cannot forget that to-day, the i6th of June, is the 
 
i 4 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 forty-fifth anniversary of the engagement before Peters 
 burg, Virginia, when the Army of the Potomac, having 
 fought through the Wilderness and at Cold Harbor, 
 crossed the James River and made that march upon 
 what proved to be the stronghold of the Confederacy. 
 It was on that I5th of June, 1864, that we heard early 
 in the afternoon the firing of Smith s division of the 
 Army of the James as it made its successful assault on 
 the extreme outer works of Petersburg, held by a small 
 force hastily gathered together. That night we arrived 
 before the city, and the next day, the i6th, just forty-five 
 years ago, you who were present at that time will 
 remember that about five o clock in the afternoon the 
 Second Army Corps, supported on the left by the Ninth, 
 made an assault upon the works held then by Hill s 
 corps of the Army of Northern Virginia. You will 
 remember, my comrades, how stubbornly the battle 
 raged from five until ten o clock. You will remember 
 we lost one of our color-bearers, and there is a comrade 
 with us here who the next day took those colors and 
 carried them to the end of the war. It was on the i6th 
 that one of these brothers gave up his life on the bat 
 tlefield for his country. Asa, a good soldier, spoken 
 well of by all his comrades and officers, was the one 
 to answer to the call of duty, following almost eight 
 months after his brother John, who had died in the 
 Military Hospital at Fort Albany, Virginia, October 
 13, 1863. 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 15 
 
 "One might think that the sacrifice of two of the 
 brothers was enough. But fate had in store a different 
 history to send down the ages, for in the battle of the 
 Wilderness, at the Harris Farm, on the preceding igth 
 of May, 1864, Samuel was captured and confined at 
 Andersonville, Georgia. Comrades, you know what that 
 meant in 1864. We can believe that the two brothers 
 who had already passed over to the glorified encamp 
 ment above, had received from the Great Commander 
 the gracious welcome of * Well done, good and faithful 
 servants. But how about the other brother, at Ander 
 sonville ? There s a comrade present, a fellow pris 
 oner who was with him through all the months and 
 weeks of his terrible sickness, suffering, and longing 
 for home, who will tell you that he was faithful unto 
 death/ 
 
 4 The sacrifice now was complete; three of the brothers 
 had gone, one remained. He, a mere youth, could not 
 allow himself to remain at home, but in the last year of 
 the war, really too young to enlist, he joined that fa 
 mous old Sixth Regiment which marched out at the very 
 beginning, and in the streets of Baltimore shed the first 
 blood for the Union. He was spared to come home, and 
 it is well that we should assemble here to-day and with 
 him assist in the dedication of this memorial. 
 
 " How well his brothers filled the full measure of a 
 soldier s duty, this silent memorial and these tablets 
 in short words proclaim. They have indeed blessed this 
 
16 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 country, for in the soil of Massachusetts one lies buried ; 
 in an unknown grave, in Virginia, he who fell at Peters 
 burg sleeps his last sleep; and amidst the mourning 
 pines at Andersonville in Georgia another awaits the 
 call of the angel trumpeter. Their blood indeed has 
 enriched the soil of our common country. From Massa 
 chusetts on the north to Georgia on the south they have 
 enriched it, so that coming generations will say that 
 not Massachusetts and Georgia alone, but the soil of 
 the whole Nation has been made sacred by the death of 
 these three boys. Greater love hath no man than this, 
 that a man lay down his life for his friend. What can 
 we add to these words of Holy Writ ? It was not their 
 lot to be famous in civil life, but in the common walks, 
 in which we of the old army had a part, they were doing 
 their duty when the call came. They obeyed, and, when 
 put to the test, they made that sacrifice, the greatest that 
 can be made, their lives for their fellow men, their lives 
 for this country we all love, their lives for that flag which 
 came home washed of its one stain and purified not 
 only in their blood, but in the blood of thousands of 
 our comrades, who on battlefields, the decks of our men- 
 of-war, and in prison pens freely died that the Nation 
 might live. 
 
 "In coming memorial days, when children of the ris 
 ing generation repair to the different cemeteries through 
 out our land, and with slow and measured tread, the 
 few veterans that remain accompany them and place 
 

THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 17 
 
 wreaths upon the graves of their departed comrades, no 
 more interesting place than this can be found through 
 out the country to teach these children the lesson of the 
 sacrifices that were made in their behalf and in behalf 
 of this Nation, not only now, but so long as God shall 
 permit it to exist. May that lesson be taken to heart ! 
 May they, as they look upon this < Mourning Victory, 
 which here guards so solemnly these three tablets, re 
 member what it cost to preserve our Country s flag and 
 to give this Nation its present position in the world. 
 For, my Comrades, as we go out one by one we feel as 
 if we had done something towards the uplift of human 
 ity and the further advancement of our country, which 
 God has so greatly blessed. 
 
 < I feel, Comrades, that no words of mine can add to 
 those which are on this memorial. We are glad to be 
 here in such large numbers to-day, I think the larg 
 est assembly of the old regiment we have had for 
 many a year. We are glad of this beautiful sunshine, 
 reminding us of this day forty-five years ago. But above 
 all, Comrades, I know what is in your minds. To have 
 fought for a country like ours was a great privilege, but 
 to be permitted to live forty-odd years to enjoy some 
 of the fruits of that victory is a privilege for which we 
 thank our Heavenly Father. It was not their privilege 
 to see in the flesh what their sacrifice had wrought, but 
 we believe that to-day in spirit our three comrades are 
 with us. The call of the bugle not only brought nearly 
 
i8 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 a hundred men of the old regiment together, but, Com 
 rades, I see again, as I look up and down the line, the 
 woods in front of Petersburg into which we charged 
 that afternoon, and I can see the old regiment, every 
 man, assembled. You who were there remember we went 
 into a hollow, something like this in front of us, before 
 we came upon the enemy amongst the log -houses. 
 That was forty-five years ago to-day, and from that 
 day to this we have been reaping the benefits which 
 came from the sacrifices made, not only then, but from 
 1861 to 1865, by our comrades from Maine to Cali 
 fornia and from the Lakes to the Gulf. And so to-day 
 we go from this place rejoicing to think that we could 
 be here to assist this brother in this act which is a credit 
 to his mind and heart. We honor him for the erection 
 of the Memorial, not only to his own brothers, but also 
 to our dead comrades of the war. 
 
 " Before we close these ceremonies we are to crown 
 these tablets with laurel wreaths, symbols of victory. 
 From their own Company K there remain, and are 
 here to-day, comrades who knew each one of these 
 brothers well, and it certainly is most fitting that they 
 should do this part in the dedication of the Memo 
 rial. 
 
 " And now, my Comrades, as we go from this place let 
 us take with us a determination to live during the re 
 maining years of our lives for our Country as they fought 
 and died for it, let us be as faithful now and in the future 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 19 
 
 as we have been in the past, so that when the Great 
 Commander shall call us to the final roll-call we shall 
 all be able to answer <Here until the last man shall 
 have reported, and the old regiment, with its old lead 
 ers, one of whom we wish might have lived to be with 
 us here to-day, our dear old Colonel Shatswell, 
 will reassemble in the glorified ranks of the Army of the 
 Redeemed in the Great Encampment above." 
 
 Decoration of the tablets followed, accompanied, in 
 every instance, by the sounding of "Taps" and the 
 drooping of the Colors above the tablet, each decorator 
 being a personal friend of the dead, as well as a member 
 of Company K : - 
 
 COMRADE SYLVESTER C. FROST, Arlington: My 
 comrades, in your name I deposit this wreath as a token 
 of love and respect to the memory of our brave comrade, 
 Asa H. Melvin, of Company K. 
 
 COMRADE WILLIAM H. MERROW, Lawrence : Com 
 rades, to me has been assigned the honor of placing 
 this wreath to the memory of John H. Melvin, one of 
 the original members of Company K of our regiment, 
 and an intimate comrade of mine. 
 
 COMRADE Lucius A. WILDER, Goshen, Indiana : - 
 Comrades, as the sole survivor of six members of Com 
 pany K who were taken prisoners on the igth of May 
 at Harris Farm, I place this wreath in memory of our 
 comrade, Samuel Melvin. He died in Andersonville 
 Prison. 
 
20 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 The singing of "America " by the Glee Club, accom 
 panied by the Assembly, led up to Comrade Bradley s 
 saying:- 
 
 "As a fitting conclusion to these exercises, I have 
 been asked to sound < Taps for each one of the Melvin 
 boys ; but, Comrades, Taps does not seem as appropri 
 ate now as it did years ago. We have gone out so rap 
 idly that the past seems far behind us, and the future 
 appears to be closing in. So many of our comrades are 
 over on the other shore, it seems that the night must be 
 nearly ended and the morning dawning, and we listen 
 intently for that first call of day which, Comrades, 
 we shall hear, ere long, in Eternity s camping-ground, 
 where we shall respond to Reveille in the morning." 
 
 The Reveille as sounded by Comrade Bradley, the 
 boy bugler of the regiment, ended the exercises at the 
 Memorial. 
 
 The detail from Company I and the Old Concord 
 Post escorted the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery 
 veterans to the Colonial Inn, where the three organiza 
 tions were photographed. Photographs of the veterans 
 had previously been taken at the Memorial, and of the 
 veterans and Post at the armory on Walden Street. 
 At one o clock the three organizations were the guests 
 of Comrade Melvin at dinner, the Regiment at the 
 Colonial Inn, and the Post and Company at the lower 
 town hall, the separation being necessary in order to 
 secure adequate accommodations. 
 
THE DINNER 
 
 AT the Colonial Inn the Divine blessing was invoked 
 before dinner by Comrade George H. Lewis (Co. F.), 
 Melrose, in the following words : - 
 
 Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee that so many 
 of us have been permitted to come together to-day on 
 this solemn occasion. O Lord, we thank Thee for the 
 services which were held in commemoration of our 
 comrades. Though we cannot hear their voices, though 
 we cannot look them in the eye, though we cannot 
 grasp them by the hand, we remember them in our 
 hearts. We thank Thee for this beautiful day, which 
 is typical of that great day for which all days were made. 
 We pray that Thou wilt bless us as comrades, and may 
 the fraternal feeling and love in our hearts never cease ; 
 we know that it will not cease in time, and we trust that 
 it will be perpetuated in eternity. Help us, as we par 
 take of this bounty of Thy love, that we may remember 
 that Thou art the giver. May we be as thoughtful and 
 grateful to Thee as we are dependent upon Thee, and 
 may we all meet in that Grand Army, that grand en 
 campment, where the jewels of the Lord shall be gath 
 ered together. In Christ s name we ask it. Amen. 
 
22 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 1861 
 
 DINNER 
 
 GIVEN BY 
 
 JAMES C. MELVIN 
 
 TO THE 
 
 SURVIVING VETERANS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 FIRST MASSACHUSETTS HEAVY ARTILLERY 
 
 THE COLONIAL INN 
 Concord, Massachusetts 
 June 1 6th, 1909. 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 23 
 
 MENU 
 
 Iced Olives Radishes Sweet Pickles 
 
 Consomme Spaghetti 
 Penobscot Salmon Hollandaise 
 
 Green Peas 
 Roast Stuffed Chicken 
 
 Roast Beef 
 
 Mashed Potatoes Boiled Onions Concord Asparagus 
 
 Lettuce, Tomato and Cucumber Salad 
 
 French Dressing 
 Vanilla Ice Cream Frozen Pudding 
 
 Strawberries and Cream 
 
 Assorted Cake Macaroons 
 
 Roquefort and Cream Cheese 
 
 Crackers 
 
 Nuts Raisins 
 
 Coffee Tea 
 
POST-PRANDIAL 
 
 AFTER dinner, members of the Post joined their com 
 rades of the Regiment in the dining-hall of the Colonial 
 Inn, to listen to speeches by the veterans. Comrade 
 Bradley presided at the exercises, and began the speech- 
 making, saying : 
 
 Comrades, give your attention to our host of the 
 occasion, Comrade James C. Melvin. [Three cheers for 
 Mr. Melvin, given spontaneously.] Before he speaks, 
 however, just a word or two. The companies have 
 sent in the lists of their members present here to-day. 
 I presume the list is not entirely correct. Company A 
 reports two men, Company B, twelve, Company C, 
 six, Company D, eleven, Company E, two, Company 
 F, eight, Company G, six, Company H, seven, Com 
 pany I, six, Company K, eleven, Company L, nine, 
 Company M, eight, or an aggregate of eighty-eight. 
 This is the largest number we shall ever have together 
 on this earth. There is something remarkable about 
 this attendance, in that the companies that lost the 
 largest number in killed and wounded during the serv 
 ice are most largely represented here, Companies B 
 and K. This is a rather remarkable fact. 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 25 
 
 We are here as guests of our Comrade Melvin, and 
 he has given us a glorious day. We have had a joyful 
 meeting, and yet one that is tinged with sadness, for we 
 cannot help at this time mingling these two emotions. 
 I learn from our Comrade Melvin that, in erecting this 
 Memorial to his three brothers, he raised it not only 
 in honor of them, but also as a memorial and a tribute 
 to the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery. So at last, 
 through Comrade Melvin, we possess a beautiful monu 
 ment in the town of Concord, already noted for historical 
 mementoes, covering not only the last one hundred and 
 forty years of this country, but all the time from the very 
 first settlement, from provincial days to the present. 
 And I wish to say further, Comrades, knowing that you 
 feel just as I do, that we are under great obligations to 
 our Comrade for this magnificent Memorial and for 
 this beautiful ceremony of dedication which he has ar 
 ranged for us to-day. All honor to the three boys who 
 went out from the family and died in defence of the flag, 
 and all honor to him who still remains to uphold what 
 they helped establish with their very lives. 
 
 I shall not take more of your time, because I have 
 other duties to attend to in the way of arrangements this 
 afternoon, and it needs very few words from me to in 
 troduce the youngest member of the family, Comrade 
 James C. Melvin, our host of the day. Now, boys, I 
 wish you to rise and give three cheers for Comrade Mel 
 vin. [The cheers were given vigorously.] 
 
26 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 COMRADE JAMES C. MELVIN 
 
 Comrades: My duty here to-day is very simple. It 
 is to thank each and all of you for coming from your 
 homes to dedicate a memorial to three of your comrades 
 who suffered with you in camp, on the march, and on 
 the battlefield, and who at last laid their lives on the 
 altar of their country. 
 
 I am deeply touched that so many of you are here. 
 One r comes a thousand miles to pay a last tribute of 
 love and affection to his friend and comrade, with whom 
 he suffered at Andersonville. The face of this comrade 
 was probably the last friendly one my brother ever 
 saw, for at that time the mists of death were gathering, 
 and ten days later he died. I also desire to express my 
 gratitude to the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Committee, 
 - for every member of that Committee has done all in 
 his power to cooperate with the sculptor and myself 
 in every way, and to the members of the Old Con 
 cord Post, some of whom were boyhood friends of my 
 brothers, for their kindness and courtesy in acting as 
 escort to their visiting brethren. Also I wish to thank 
 the Concord Artillery for detailing a guard for this 
 occasion. This old Concord Company is the one in 
 which my brother Asa served when it went to the 
 front early in 1861, and in which I later became a 
 private and an officer. 
 
 1 Lucius A. Wilder of Goshen, Indiana. 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 27 
 
 It will be but a few years when there will be no old 
 soldiers of the Civil War left, and as the evening shad 
 ows lengthen, each of you will have the consoling re 
 flection that when your country was in peril you went to 
 the rescue. But for you and your comrades, we should 
 have no united country to-day. 
 
 At the close of the war I was a poor lad of seventeen, 
 with no assets except what nature had given me. At 
 that time I made a vow that I would some time erect 
 a fitting memorial to my three brothers. For more than 
 forty years this has been in my mind, and it is nearly 
 thirty years since Mr. French, one of the friends of my 
 youth, was consulted. Five years ago he accepted my 
 commission; the result is the beautiful and inspiring 
 monument which you to-day have dedicated. I am 
 certain you will all agree with me that the youthful 
 hand which fashioned the Minute Man and in maturer 
 years created the Milmore Memorial has lost nothing 
 of its cunning. May it forever stand, a memorial to 
 these three brave soldiers, and, what is of vastly greater 
 importance, an inspiration to future generations to 
 follow the path of duty though it may lead, as it did 
 with these brothers, to that greatest sacrifice that can 
 be made by man. 
 
 In the spring of 186 1 the three brothers were living, 
 two of them in Lawrence and one of them on a farm in 
 Concord. Their ancestors and family had taken prom 
 inent parts in the Indian and Colonial wars as well 
 
28 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 as in the War of the Revolution. On the paternal side 
 one ancestor z commanded a company at Louisburg and 
 another 2 took an active part at Brookfield in King 
 Philip s War. One of the family 3 commanded a com 
 pany at Crown Point, and one 4 was the sentinel at the 
 court-house in this town on the igth of April, 1775, 
 and rang the bell that roused the country. On the 
 maternal side four of their ancestors 5 were officers. 
 
 With such antecedents it was only natural that Asa, 
 as true a Minute Man as the court-house sentinel in 
 1775, hearing on the iQth of April, a day when the 
 blood of every true son of Concord thrills with patriot 
 ism, the eighty-sixth anniversary of the day when the 
 " embattled farmers" fired the first gun for American 
 independence, that the Concord company had been 
 called out by Governor Andrew and was to leave that 
 day for the war, should, although not a member of the 
 company, drop his work in the field, walk to the centre 
 of the town, join the company, and leave with it for the 
 front in less than three hours after hearing the call. He 
 was in the first battle of Bull Run, and at the expiration 
 
 1 Captain David Melvin 1690-1745 
 
 2 Lieutenant Simon Davis 1636-1713 
 
 3 Captain Eleazer Melvin 1703-1754 
 
 4 Private Amos Melvin 1731-1806 
 
 5 Sergeant John Heald ad 1689 
 Lieutenant John Heald 3d 1666-1721 
 Lieutenant John Heald 5th 1721-1810 
 Lieutenant John Heald 6th 1746-1816 
 

THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 29 
 
 of his term of service returned to Concord and soon 
 reenlisted Jn the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery 
 for three years, and on the expiration of that term of 
 service reenlisted again in the same regiment. He was 
 killed in a charge on the enemy s lines at Petersburg 
 June 16, 1864, aged twenty-nine. That charge was 
 sounded forty-five years ago this afternoon by the same 
 man, on the same bugle, that you have heard to-day. 
 Asa s body lies in an unknown grave. 
 
 John was working in Lawrence at the time. He en 
 listed early in 1861 in the First Massachusetts Heavy 
 Artillery. The regiment was mustered into the United 
 States service July 5, 1861, and soon left for Wash 
 ington. He died at Fort Albany, Virginia, October 13, 
 
 1863, aged twenty-two years. His body was sent home 
 by his comrades, and rests in our beautiful Sleepy 
 Hollow. 
 
 Samuel enlisted at the same time as his brother 
 John, and was taken prisoner at Harris s Farm May 19, 
 
 1864, while taking his comrade E. K. Boardman to 
 the rear. He reached Andersonville June 3, and per 
 ished there September 25, 1864, aged twenty years, 
 five months. I have here the diary 1 which he kept 
 while he was in Andersonville, in which he wrote 
 almost daily up to within ten days of his death. In it 
 he says that he could not ask to be better treated than 
 he was by the Confederate soldiers while on his way 
 
 1 See page 77. 
 
30 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 to Andersonville. There everything was changed and 
 cruelties unspeakable were suffered. In this diary he 
 records his hopes and his disappointments, one day 
 buoyed up by rumors of an exchange, only to be cast 
 into the depths of despair by their not proving true ; 
 the death, one after another, of his comrades, taking 
 down the tender messages of love sent by them to their 
 kindred at home. He tells of his own and his com 
 rades sickness and sufferings, some days of getting no 
 rations and on others only a few spoonfuls of uncooked, 
 unsalted rice or cornmeal. The continual cry is for 
 food and for home. 
 
 For the boys who wore the gray I have no ill feeling. 
 I have spent the last five winters in the South, and have 
 met many of them, and it has been a pleasure to me to 
 help some of them who were needy. 
 
 For Andersonville there can be no excuse. The bar 
 barity and cruelty there will forever remain a blot upon 
 American civilization. 
 
 The Daughters of the Confederacy may erect a mon 
 ument to Wirz as high as the virgin pines which sur 
 rounded the stockade, but the little white stones on 
 the slope at Andersonville, which mark the graves of 
 the fifteen thousand heroes who perished there, will for 
 ever tell the true story. [Applause, and three cheers 
 for Comrade Melvin.] 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 31 
 
 COMRADE BRADLEY 
 
 Our Association, as you know, is presided over this 
 year by Comrade Sidney Poore. His voice is a little out 
 of tune to-day, but we cannot let our President off with 
 out at least a word. We would like to hear from the 
 President of the Association, Comrade Poore, of Com 
 pany B. 
 
 PRESIDENT SIDNEY POORE 
 
 Mr. Toastmaster and Comrades : At the best, I am 
 a very indifferent speaker, and for the last few days I 
 have had a very bad voice, and I am troubled with rheu 
 matism, too, so that I am under the weather, figuratively 
 speaking anyway ; but I am very much pleased to meet 
 so many of you here to-day. I never thought that I 
 should ever see so many of the First Heavies together 
 again. I have been used, ever since I came out of the 
 army, to go to the different reunions that we have 
 had, and I have seen some pretty large parties assem 
 bled, but I must thank Comrade Melvin for making our 
 getting together to-day possible. I hardly think we ever 
 should have met in such numbers if it had not been for 
 his kind invitation. I think I could come down every 
 week and enjoy this. I am sure I voice the sentiments 
 of all of you, Comrades, when I thank him very kindly 
 and heartily for making this day possible. 
 
32 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 COMRADE BRADLEY 
 
 We have here a comrade who has come from the state 
 of Indiana to be present to-day to pay his personal re 
 spects to one who was very near and dear to him, one 
 of the brothers, the one who died at Andersonville. If 
 Lucius A. Wilder is in the room we want to have him 
 step right down here and let us hear a word from our 
 
 Indiana Comrade of Company K. 
 
 
 
 COMRADE Lucius A. WILDER 
 
 I will simply say that I am interested in this dedica 
 tion. I have come a thousand miles for this occasion ; 
 I can think of no other event that would have brought 
 me here. But Andersonville Prison is an old story. It 
 is something that I seldom mention unless I am among 
 those who can appreciate it and who know something 
 of prison life. 
 
 As Comrade Melvin mentions in his diary, we were 
 treated well until we arrived at Andersonville Prison. 
 We certainly had good officers. I began to think that 
 they were not as bad as they were represented. But that 
 was the last that we ever saw of what we called a good 
 officer or a good rebel. They could not do enough to 
 injure the prisoners after that ; it was anything to get 
 one out of the way. I do not believe that consent would 
 ever have been given to hang six raiders there, if this 
 had not been the means of destroying six Yanks. When 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 33 
 
 we arrived at the prison, fortunately we had a little 
 money, twenty-five dollars, George Handy carrying the 
 funds. He was very anxious in regard to that money, 
 for it was well known that every prisoner would be 
 searched and all his valuables taken from him, 
 money, watches, knives, anything of value, even his 
 coat. As it happened, the Confederates seemed to be 
 much excited at the time we arrived at the stockade. At 
 that time the prison contained some thirty thousand 
 men. The keepers were very anxious to get us inside as 
 soon as possible, so that no one of the thousand was 
 searched, and in consequence we carried in considerable 
 money among us. As we entered the stockade, the old 
 prisoners, who had been there all the way from two to 
 eleven or twelve months, were standing in a line, in rags, 
 some of them almost nude ; some of them had not had 
 shirts on their backs for three months, their hides 
 the color of leather. I looked them over. I saw several 
 men sitting there, nude apparently, living skeletons. 
 No skeleton in a dime museum would ever compare 
 with those men. They were simply skin and bones. At 
 this time I met an old comrade, a schoolmate, by the 
 name of Henry Joy of Lawrence. He stepped up and 
 shook me by the hand. Said I, " Henry, how long have 
 you been here?" He looked very serious. "Nine 
 months," he said, " in this and other prisons." I made 
 the remark that I did not think I would remain there 
 long. He said, "I thought so when I entered here, but 
 
34 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 I have about given up hope." Two months later he 
 died. The prison was so crowded that we could not find 
 a place that we could call headquarters. We were 
 anxious to keep together our little band of six. I hap 
 pened to see a piece of ground with three or four willow 
 poles bent over, about six by four. I made the remark, 
 " Here is a place, boys. Let us quarter here." An old 
 prisoner stepped up. "Just come in, boys ? " he asked. 
 "Yes, just come in. We are looking for a place that we 
 can fix up for a kind of headquarters." He said, "I ll 
 sell you my place." I replied, "Do you sell the land 
 here?" "Well," he said, "there is no rule, but all of 
 my friends have died and I am heir of the estate " ; and 
 he smiled. We talked it over. We decided we would 
 purchase. His price was five dollars. We made our 
 little shelter. We possessed one blanket. That blanket 
 we got possession of from a rebel officer just before we 
 went into prison ; one of the boys having had a fancy 
 haversack which he traded for it. We took the blanket 
 and ran it over the poles. I possessed an extra shirt. 
 My friend Ned Holt, of Company K, had an extra pair 
 of drawers. We made a shelter enough to keep the sun 
 off of us, and that is the way we lived for some two 
 months. Then we commenced to divide up. We could 
 not all get under the shelter at night. We simply lay 
 spoon fashion, one turn, all turn. The man that was on 
 the outside one night would be on the inside the next 
 night. That is the way we lived. 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 35 
 
 After some five weeks I noticed that the men com 
 menced tafail. There seemed to be no disease particu 
 larly, but a sort of despondency. A man would lie there, 
 and would groan and look up to the sky, and think of 
 home and the old farm. He soon passed away. An 
 early one to go was George Handy. The next to go was 
 Asa Rowe, and the next was Ed. Holt. Ed. Holt died 
 from diphtheria. We were cooking together one day. 
 I made the remark that my throat was sore. He said, 
 "So is mine," and added, "You must have taken cold." 
 The next day he asked, "Wilder, how is your throat ?" 
 Said I, "It is not any worse. I think I am getting better." 
 It seems that he had diphtheria, and my trouble was 
 nothing more than a cold. The third day I walked him 
 round the prison to see the boys. They spoke to him. 
 He was like death, and he could hardly speak. He said 
 he guessed he would go back and lie down. He went 
 back and lay down. He looked up and said, "Wilder, 
 I never shall live to see the sun rise." I told him I 
 thought he might live to see the sun rise on many an 
 occasion. He spoke to his friend Melvin, who did not 
 give him much encouragement, and he strangled to 
 death. I went outside of the tent, and I shed tears, the 
 only tears that I shed while I was inside that prison, 
 for it did not do for a man to get despondent. 
 
 Comrades, I could go on by the hour and talk of An- 
 dersonville, but I am simply taking up time ; therefore, 
 thanking you, I will stop. 
 
36 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 COMRADE BRADLEY: We would like to listen all 
 the afternoon to our good Comrade Wilder. This story 
 of course comes back to us very sharply. 
 
 COMRADE WILDER: -- You have heard me; I would 
 like to hear others. 
 
 COMRADE BRADLEY : Of course we wish to hear 
 from quite a large number. It has been suggested that 
 we should hear from every comrade present. It is im 
 possible to carry out that suggestion ; but a list of those 
 who knew our comrades in whose honor we are assem 
 bled to-day, and who knew them well, has been pre 
 pared, and on that list is our good friend Comrade 
 Merrow, of Company K. Captain Merrow ! 
 
 CAPTAIN WILLIAM H. MERROW, LAWRENCE 
 
 Well,,Mr. President and Comrades, what I have to 
 say will be in few words. I am no speaker. I only wish 
 that there was one here who could voice the sentiments 
 of Company K, and that one is Charley Burrows, but 
 he unavoidably is kept away. He has business of such a 
 nature that he could not possibly be here. 
 
 At the breaking out of the Civil War, John and 
 Samuel Melvin were employed in the mills of Lawrence, 
 like hundreds of young men who had gone to the new 
 city, as it was then known, to make their fortune, and 
 the two Melvin boys, in connection with twelve others, 
 enlisted in Company K about as soon as it was organ 
 ized. Intimacy grew up between John Melvin and me 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 37 
 
 that lasted all the rest of his life. He was an intimate 
 comrade -of mine. If we were on the march, it was 
 John s elbow that touched mine. If we went out of 
 camp anywhere, John and I were together. If we took 
 a notion to go to Washington, it was John and I who 
 went together. 
 
 John was an exceedingly good soldier. He was a man 
 who kept his equipments and his clothing in perfect 
 shape at all times. No sudden call for any inspection 
 ever found John Melvin unprepared. Samuel Melvin 
 was more of a sedate, studious nature. He was an inven 
 tive genius. I remember at one time his getting up some 
 sort of a galvanic battery ; he was studying electricity at 
 as early a day as that. Of course if he had lived, these 
 times would have been opportune for him to perfect his 
 study. But that was the different nature of the two men. 
 While John was all soldier, Samuel enlisted and was 
 soldier to this extent: he was there to do his duty as he 
 was told, but he did not enter into it with the same en 
 thusiasm as did John. Of Asa Melvin I knew very little, 
 because I left the Company soon after his admittance 
 to it, but his death in the line of battle, the i6th of June, 
 vouched for his good conduct. 
 
 Speaking of Company K, there were borne on its rolls 
 from first to last somewhere about two hundred and 
 twelve officers and men. Of those two hundred and 
 twelve, there were one hundred and forty-nine that 
 reached the firing line, or, as we said in those days, that 
 
38 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 went to the front. Of that number fifty-eight were 
 killed, wounded, or missing, making a little more than 
 one third of the whole number of men that were en 
 gaged. Of the two hundred odd men of that Company 
 who followed the old flag into the battle of Spottsyl- 
 vania on the igth of May, 1864, there were less than 
 twenty that stood under its tattered folds at Appomat- 
 tox. While we do not speak of Company K as having 
 performed its duty better than any other company, I 
 think the records will show that it did as well, and I am 
 sure the comrades who are here to-day will indorse that. 
 
 I wish to return my thanks for the thought that 
 brought about this magnificent reunion. To Comrade 
 Melvin all honor is due. I know it was last winter that 
 he first conceived the idea of inviting the Company to 
 these memorial exercises. But he found that its surviv 
 ing members were scattered and few, for I wish to say 
 right here that out of Company K there are at the pre 
 sent time one hundred and fifty known to be dead, 
 forty-two are living, and the rest, some twenty-one or 
 two, are recorded as missing. As I said before, it was 
 his idea to have the Company only, but when he found 
 that there were so few and they so scattered, he then 
 decided to invite the remainder of the old Regiment, 
 which I am glad that he did, and postponed the dedi 
 cation until this summer. 
 
 COMRADE BRADLEY: Comrade Poore, the Presi 
 dent of the Association, has an additional word to say. 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 39 
 
 COMRADE POORE : At some time, and I don t know 
 as there would be any more opportune time than this, 
 sir, I wish to propose the name of Comrade Melvin for 
 honorary membership in our Association. [The mo 
 tion was seconded by several comrades.] 
 
 COMRADE BRADLEY: You hear that motion. Ev 
 erything goes to-day, Comrades. The President makes 
 the motion that our host of the day, James C. Melvin, 
 be made an honorary member of the First Massachu 
 setts Heavy Artillery Association. 
 
 A COMRADE : By a rising vote. 
 
 COMRADE BRADLEY: Are you ready for the ques 
 tion? All in favor will say, "Aye." 
 
 The motion was adopted unanimously by rising vote, 
 and Comrade James C. Melvin was made an honorary 
 member of the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery 
 Association. 
 
 COMRADE BRADLEY: Comrade Melvin, you are 
 one of us now. And, by the way, he has been look 
 ing over something here, and wants to read just a 
 word. Comrade Melvin! Now you are one of us. 
 
 COMRADE MELVIN: To show you the style of 
 diary that my brother kept, I will read the entries for 
 two or three days. [He then read the entries for Sep 
 tember 12, 14, and 15, 1864.] 
 
 COMRADE BRADLEY: We would like to hear from 
 Comrade Jenkins of Company H, Andover. Give your 
 
 1 See page 77. 
 
40 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 attention, Comrades, to Comrade Jenkins of Com 
 pany H. 
 
 COMRADE E. K. JENKINS, ANDOVER 
 
 I wish to say that you and I never met under any 
 such circumstances as these, from the beginning to the 
 end, and I predict we never shall again. We meet with 
 different thoughts. We came here, it might be said, to 
 bury our comrades. We have laid our last tributes on 
 their resting place. Then we listen to the brother, and 
 he reads how one of them died. It brings back to us 
 the war, with all its deviltry , with everything that should 
 stamp with that name Andersonville Prison. 
 
 I have lived long enough to see the son of General 
 Grant almost taken from his feet by the Southerners 
 down in Tennessee, while tears were flowing. The Blue 
 and the Gray have grasped each other by the hand and 
 here we stand to-day a better nation than we ever were 
 before. See what we have done by sending what the 
 pessimist believed was to be an encouragement for war, 
 our fleet, all over the world. And what did it meet ? It 
 met open arms everywhere. But the fiery newspaper 
 and the sensationalist have tried to get us into a war 
 with Japan. Japan is one of the best friends we have, 
 and we are her best friends, and you and I know it. 
 
 We have come right in here to-day, and I think it is a 
 heart to heart occasion. I would not have missed it for 
 anything. This young boy, as he was, has done more 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 41 
 
 than any one of us in the Regiment to bring us together, 
 to hold-us right in brotherly love, and I want to thank 
 him over and over again. And we are here to make a 
 day for the beautiful, old historic town that we are in, 
 where some of the best talent of the world lies buried. 
 Those men made history, and we are making history 
 to-day. We have been making it for forty years, and we 
 look as though we might keep on for another ten years, 
 though the most of us will be pretty old by that time. 
 I shall be about ninety, but never mind, I shall be here. 
 I stand up before you, seventy-eight years old in a few 
 days, but when a man has courage he can do much. 
 
 I have one brother. He went into the war when I 
 came out, and he, too, came out, with one leg taken off 
 at the knee, the other, at the foot. He has the most 
 cheery nature that I know. He will make you roar with 
 laughter at the stories he tells. It is courage ; he never 
 says die. And that is why so many of us, I think, stand 
 here to-day. We have not abused ourselves. We have 
 tried to live temperate, industrious, and moral lives. 
 
 As the speaker said the other day to the Abbott Acad 
 emy girls, "You want to sow morally and reap spirit 
 ually. Some men, you know, sow money." Our friend 
 here sowed money. Did n t he sow it for a good pur 
 pose ? He sowed money. He had but a dollar or two, 
 he says. Think what he has reaped from those dollars, 
 and think what he has put out here. It will never be 
 forgotten by this regiment nor by this town. He sowed 
 
42 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 wisely. He has made money where many others did 
 not; but what a good use he has put that money to. It 
 has cheered you and has set an example to you and 
 to me. 
 
 COMRADE BRADLEY : I wish now to Introduce to 
 you another Comrade, a former President of the Associ 
 ation, whom all will be very glad to hear, and he is 
 Comrade Farnham of Peabody, Company D. 
 
 COMRADE FRANK E. FARNHAM 
 
 Mr. Toastmaster: I address you and our generous 
 host and all these dear old comrades, and say that I am 
 glad to add a word to a spirit which is getting scarce 
 through the country, but which prevails here to-day, 
 the old spirit of 61. In doing so, without any malice 
 and without sounding any discordant note, I cannot fall 
 in with the prevailing sentiment over the country, it 
 seems to me, of the press, of the pulpit, the lecture room, 
 the politician, the statesman, and even of some organ 
 izations, to obliterate all the difference between the right 
 and the wrong of that conflict, and to assert that there 
 were as much virtue and principle in that war on the 
 other side as upon the side in which the brothers of 
 our host to-day died. I cannot subscribe to that opin 
 ion. Apparently their minds have not changed. We 
 must make all the concessions, and it will end, unless 
 checked, and I hope history will check it, in put 
 ting their cause on a higher plane than ours. I never 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 43 
 
 can subscribe to that, for theirs was the cause of slavery 
 and nothing else. 
 
 I know it has become the fashion now to say that that 
 was not the issue, although Alexander Stephens, per 
 haps the noblest rebel of them all, said it was, that 
 slavery was the corner-stone of the Confederacy. I 
 know it is the fashion now to say secession was the real 
 issue. There have been plenty of wind and water wasted 
 on that, have been in the past, and will be in the future ; 
 but there would never have been a drop of blood shed 
 in settling that. And by the way, it is a question that 
 never will be settled, because our forefathers attempted 
 the mathematical impossibility of making a part equal 
 the whole, of giving to the states the same rights as 
 those of the whole nation in some matters, and that will 
 never settle the question of right to secede. The Su 
 preme Court has vacillated all round about it, and it is 
 not settled yet. We are a failure, if that is all we tried 
 for. 
 
 I, for one, think that this deluge of perverted senti 
 ment, for so it looks to me, which crops out everywhere, 
 can at least be delayed until we have followed these 
 three departed comrades of ours. We must not give 
 way to this. We cannot do it without stultifying our 
 selves and without decreasing the honor and insulting 
 the memory of these comrades whom we honor to-day, 
 and of all the others, for ours was the cause of liberty, 
 and liberty not alone, as has been said, to the black man 
 
44 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 in this country, but to all men, to all races, for all time, 
 and the proof of it would have been, Comrades, if it had 
 gone the other way. Where, then, would Liberty have 
 found a resting place on this footstool for her feet ? The 
 progress of the world would have been set back for cen 
 turies. Let us live and die in the delusion, if it be one, 
 that there never was a cause more justifiable than the 
 one that called us to arms. 
 
 How little war has accomplished as a rule, and how 
 little excuse for it there is! Indeed, it does not settle 
 anything. It is very rarely war settles what it starts out 
 for. Why, even our Revolution, which we talk so much 
 about, was undertaken mostly to settle the question of 
 taxing colonies without their consent. I think there are 
 many colonies taxed to-day without their consent. The 
 War of 18 12 started with the slogan of no impressment 
 of American seamen, and when they made the peace of 
 Ghent there was not a word said about it, and there has 
 not been one said since. The war with Mexico, and I 
 should include that with Spain if there were not some 
 Spanish- War fellows here, perhaps, it seems to me had 
 no great principle behind it, and has no great place in 
 history. All honor to those who do their duty. But our 
 war was a war of self-defense, and self-defense is per 
 mitted to the nation as it is to the individual, and it is 
 the only case in which blood can be shed justly. Speed 
 the time, all men who have seen real fighting will say, 
 when all these questions will be settled without the shed- 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 45 
 
 ding of blood, which really does not settle any question. 
 When t,vo men who have a joint interest, we will say, 
 fall out and fight, and one whips the other, the other 
 man is not convinced; he is mad, and it takes a court 
 of law to settle it. It will take international courts in 
 the future to settle questions which have to do with 
 war. But let us be true to the conviction, and to the de 
 lusion, as I said, if it be one, that we fought for one of 
 the most righteous causes that was ever struggled for, 
 and be proud, as we have been, to our dying day that 
 we played at least a humble part in one of the most 
 glorious war dramas that was ever acted in this world s 
 history. 
 
 COMRADE BRADLEY : I wish to make a little di 
 gression here. Some of the comrades have felt that they 
 have had hard luck in life, that they did not have a 
 chance, and they are perhaps inclined to envy those who 
 in a literary way or in a business way or in any line have 
 succeeded better. There is a great deal of luck in this 
 world, but if we all had the sand and the endurance 
 which were spoken of here as having been shown by the 
 prisoners of war at Andersonville and at Libby, we 
 would accomplish a great deal more in this battle of 
 life. You know you saw in the army that the man who 
 said he would not die generally lived. Of course there 
 were exceptions in cases of severe sickness, but, I tell 
 you, determination went a great way. 
 
 I happened to run across a comrade this afternoon, 
 
46 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 Hiram W. Jones, who sits here before me, and he was 
 the man before the war that hired James C. Melvin, 
 our host of the afternoon, to work for him at twenty- 
 five cents a day. ("Well, he was a good boy to work," 
 said Jones.) That is the way that Comrade Melvin 
 started with his chance in life. Some of you may have 
 worked for twenty-three and a half cents, but Comrade 
 Melvin worked for Comrade Jones here at twenty-five 
 cents a day, and I have no doubt you paid him in good 
 money, Comrade Jones. I just wanted to make that 
 statement as it came to me. Of all of our comrades of 
 late years there has been one who has stood out con 
 spicuously for his unselfish devotion to the interests of 
 this old regiment in season and out of season. He took 
 us down to Spottsylvania when we dedicated the monu 
 ment. And there is one thing peculiar about this regi 
 ment and the friends of the regiment. We put up a 
 monument at Spottyslvania. We did not ask the State 
 of Massachusetts to contribute a single cent. Hardly a 
 regiment in this whole Commonwealth, that has been 
 under fire, but what has had a monument on some bat 
 tlefield put up by the Commonwealth, and that you 
 might say of every State in the North. Their regimental 
 monuments on the battlefield have been paid for and 
 have been put up there by the Commonwealth. I have 
 no doubt that Massachusetts would have done it for us ; 
 but there seems to be a comradeship in this regiment 
 which has pulled us together, and we have there to-day 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 47 
 
 a beautiful monument for the three hundred and ninety- 
 eight men who fell on the Harris Farm, that place 
 where one of our comrades was captured who afterwards 
 died in Andersonville Prison. The monument was the 
 result of the efforts of our good Comrade from Com 
 pany L, Colonel John W. Hart of Salem, who has 
 been awake twenty-four hours in the day, looking out 
 for the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery Associa 
 tion. 
 
 COLONEL JOHN W. HART, SALEM 
 
 After the most excellent speeches that I have heard 
 here this afternoon I am surprised to think you should 
 call on me, because you all know that I am no speech- 
 maker. If I should get up and say anything at all I 
 might say, "Not Guilty." 
 
 I anticipated with the greatest of pleasure being here 
 to-day with you, but the chances looked blue for me a 
 week or two ago, when my friend, Comrade Bradley, 
 called me up over the telephone and asked me if I was 
 coming, and I told him it would be pretty hard to get 
 away from court. He said, "I tell you what you can do. 
 Shut up the court." And speaking three or four days 
 ago with the judge about coming out here, away from 
 court, he said, "Mr. Hart, I guess you can try and get 
 away." "Well," I said, "one of my comrades in Bos 
 ton telephoned me if I could not do any better to shut 
 up the court." He said, "I don t know but what you 
 
48 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 can do it." So I don t know that there is anything 
 further I can say. 
 
 Comrade Bradley has given me considerable credit 
 in regard to the monument down South. I would like 
 to state how that first started in my mind. I was down 
 there with my wife, and I went out to the front of 
 Petersburg and found that the First Maine Artillery 
 had a monument, a good, nice monument, one which, 
 however, does not compare with ours, nor did it cost 
 nearly as much as ours did. I said to my wife when I 
 got back to Salem, "The first thing I am going to do is 
 to start the log rolling and get money enough to build a 
 monument in Virginia." She said, " John, you can t do 
 it." I said, "There is one already for the First Maine 
 Artillery, and I am bound now that we shall have one 
 at Harris Farm." I started it. The boys all fell right in, 
 and the money was raised. We went down there and 
 dedicated the monument, and had a nice time. Those 
 who went can testify that the accommodation perhaps 
 at some of the hotels was not what we would have liked, 
 nor what we should expect up here. But we had a good 
 time, everything went off first-rate, and the monument, 
 if I do say it, is a credit to the regiment and a credit to 
 the Commonwealth. It was paid for by money raised 
 from members and friends of the regiment. 
 
 Now in regard to the Melvin boys. I knew them very 
 well, being on guard with them more or less, especially 
 at Fort Albany. When we first went out Company K 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 49 
 
 was at Fort Albany, where Company L was. I became 
 acquainted with the Melvin boys and knew them well, 
 and always found them willing to go on guard, or if 
 asked to fall in or anything like that, I always found 
 them good soldiers, ready to obey an order at any time. 
 One of them I served with in the Fifth Massachusetts, 
 I forget the letter of the company. It went from here, 
 and was commanded, I think, by Captain Prescott. 1 
 I recollect that at one time the regiment was quartered 
 at the Treasury Building in Washington, and there were 
 five West Point Cadets assigned to drill it. One of them 
 lost his head one day, being a little quick tempered. 
 Somebody in the company made a mistake, and he 
 swore at him. I remember Prescott going up and call 
 ing him down for doing it, giving him a severe lecture 
 about swearing to his men. He said he did not do it 
 himself and he did not like any outsider to do it. I was 
 not personally acquainted with him at that time in that 
 regiment, although I served in the same company with 
 him. I remember him very well. I was in the same 
 regiment, the Fifth, with him. 
 
 Gentlemen, I am glad to be with you to-day. It is 
 not very often I get to Concord. The last time I was 
 here was when you had the celebration on the igth of 
 
 1 George L. Prescott, Concord, Captain of Company G, Fifth M. V. M. 
 Later he was Captain, Lieutenant-Colonel, and Colonel in the Thirty- 
 Second Massachusetts Infantry. Severely wounded, June 18, 1864, be 
 fore Petersburg, he died the following day. He was brevetted Brigadier- 
 General from the i8th of June, 1864. 
 
50 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 April, 1875, and I almost froze to death. It was a cold 
 day, and to top off with we had to march from Lexing 
 ton into Boston and arrived there somewhere about 
 two o clock in the morning. We got back to Salem 
 at four. Still, I had a nice time. But I am very 
 much pleased with our exercises here to-day. Thank 
 you! 
 
 COMRADE BRADLEY: We would like a word from 
 Comrade Frost, who I understand was acquainted with 
 our comrades whose memory we honor to-day, and I 
 think was a member of Company K. Comrade Frost! 
 
 COMRADE S. C. FROST, ARLINGTON 
 
 I was well acquainted with our Melvin comrades, 
 because I was a member of Company K. Perhaps some 
 of you will remember that some of Company K had 
 tents outside of Fort Albany in 1862, and part of them 
 were in an old log cabin inside of the fort. These three 
 Melvin boys were all inside of the fort, and I was also 
 inside, so I was right intimately connected with them. 
 They were good boys and good soldiers, always obeyed 
 orders, and I don t think they ever had any trouble at 
 all, were always ready for duty. Comrade Jones and I 
 were detailed to watch with John Melvin the last night 
 he lived. 
 
 I just want to say a little about the generosity of our 
 host. I have known him a good many years. When I 
 was commander of Post 36 of Arlington I induced him 
 
"f/JL. 
 
 fefa 
 

 
 ^ 
 
OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 51 
 
 to join the Grand Army. He never had joined it before. 
 I had the pleasure of mustering him into the Post. He 
 lived in Newton, so that I don t think he ever came to 
 a Post meeting except on the night he was mustered in. 
 But he paraded with us at the time of the National En 
 campment in Boston in 1890; he went over the whole 
 route with us. He always paid his dues promptly, and 
 if we had a fair or an entertainment and wanted to raise 
 money, if I went to him with tickets and asked him to 
 give money he would ask me how much I thought he 
 ought to give. I would tell him what I thought was 
 about right, and he would hand it out. When we made 
 one of our excursions South I invited him to go ; he said 
 he could not go, but he would pay the expense of some 
 poor comrade who could not afford to go, and he did it. 
 When we were raising money for a monument I went 
 to him and asked him to help us on it. He said, "Yes/* 
 He took out his check book. I expected he would hand 
 me a check for about ten or fifteen dollars, and he sur 
 prised me by handing me one for fifty dollars. I think 
 that made Company K s subscription the leading one 
 of all the companies in the regiment. And to-day we 
 have had a sample of his generosity which we never 
 will forget. I was going to move to make him an hon 
 orary member of the regiment, but our President got 
 ahead of me. I hope we shall see him with us after this, 
 now that he is an honorary member. I have invited 
 him several times to attend our reunions, but he never 
 
52 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 has been present. I think we shall always remember 
 this day s generosity. 
 
 COMRADE BRADLEY: Comrades would like to 
 hear I will not take up your time in introduction - 
 Comrade Holt of Lawrence. He is a quiet, unassuming 
 fellow, but he cuts lots of ice about this season of the 
 year, and more in the cold weather. 1 
 
 COMRADE LEWIS G. HOLT, LAWRENCE 
 
 I am not an orator, I am not a public speaker, but 
 I am proud to say that I was a soldier in the First 
 Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, and that I served three 
 years in the ranks of that regiment. I say without fear 
 of contradiction by any of my comrades that I was a 
 good soldier, and that my regiment was never in battle 
 or skirmish that I was not to be found in the front rank. 
 I take no special credit to myself for always having 
 been in the front rank, because that was where I be 
 longed. I was the tallest corporal in my company, so 
 my position was on the right and in the front rank. 
 After I was placed upon the colors I was also the tallest 
 corporal, and I was on the right and in the front rank 
 until I was wounded at Cold Harbor. 
 
 I did not expect to be called upon to say anything, 
 and I have not much to say, but some things that have 
 been said here have led to some thoughts that I would 
 like to express, and one is a little matter between the 
 
 1 Lewis G. Holt has been in the ice business for many years. 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 53 
 
 Rebs and the Yanks. When we went down to dedicate 
 the monument at Spottsylvania we stopped in Rich 
 mond, and I went into the hall of the Camp of Con 
 federate Veterans. They had a beautiful hall, a large 
 one, and on its walls was an oil painting, life-size or 
 nearly so, of every general in the Confederate army, 
 and right in the middle of the hall, just even with your 
 eye, was a picture of General Grant. It brought to my 
 mind the words of General Grant, and I thought the 
 Confederate soldiers had accepted it exactly in the same 
 spirit as the Northern soldiers have. "The war is over. 
 Let us have peace." So I have nothing to say except 
 in the words of General Grant, "The war is over. Let 
 us have peace." We have buried the hatchet. They 
 are friends, we are friends, and this is a great and glo 
 rious united country, thank God for it. ["Amen."] 
 
 COMRADE BRADLEY: I wish to say that on the 
 i6th of June, if my memory serves me right, when we 
 made the first assault on Petersburg, Color Sergeant 
 Clark fell wounded in the assault and Comrade Buck 
 ley, what company was he? [A Comrade: "H."] 
 I am speaking from memory, picked the colors up. 
 If I am not mistaken Comrade Dearborn of Company 
 L was at that time on the color guard. Now, this is one 
 of the days we celebrate, and if Comrade Dearborn is 
 here we would like to hear a little something authentic 
 in regard to that fight of the i6th, in which one of our 
 comrades whose memory we honor to-day fell. Comrade 
 Dearborn ! 
 
54 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 COMRADE S. B. DEARBORN, WAKEFIELD 
 
 Mr. Toastmaster : I don t know as I can give this 
 regiment or give you any information, as I understand 
 it, in regard to the color sergeant business at that time. 
 
 Sergeant Lester B. Clark was formerly a sailor, and 
 he was a sergeant in Company L. He was quite a fleshy 
 fellow, good natured, a good soldier. When we entered 
 the fight on the i6th of June I was not a member of the 
 color guard, but I was next to the color guard. On the 
 left of Sergeant Clark was Corporal Buckley of Com 
 pany H. When Sergeant Clark fell I saw the flag go 
 down, and Corporal Buckley reached and picked it up. 
 I thought oftentimes that if anything happened to 
 Buckley I should have had it then. Although I was 
 not on the color guard, I should have thrown down my 
 gun and picked up the flag. I have seen Corporal Buck 
 ley since then, he was down at one of our reunions, - 
 and I asked him, "Are you the man that picked up 
 the flag ?" He said he was. Corporal Buckley was not 
 promoted to color sergeant, and was not appointed 
 one after that. Sergeant Mack of Company I was the 
 Color Sergeant, and Sergeant Mack carried the flag 
 way through to the 5th of April, 1865, wrien a shell 
 burst right over it and split the staff in two pieces. As 
 it happened, somehow or other, I don t know how, I 
 was not far from Mack then. I had been on the skir 
 mish line all that day. And by the way, to go outside 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 55 
 
 a little, we had come up to a house, and Sergeant Per- 
 cival of Company L was with me then. I was under 
 his orders, and we were firing from the house on the 
 skirmish line. I turned and saw the brigade coming 
 and the colors flying, and then our staff had not been 
 struck. As they came along we joined in with them, 
 and when the shell struck that flag of ours, which is in 
 the State House and shows the staff fastened together, 
 Mack picked it up under his arm and carried staff and 
 flag under his arm right along like this. I presume, of 
 course, we had it repaired in the regiment as best we 
 could, to carry it after that. I think Sergeant Stoddard 
 had the state colors, as I remember it. That is a little 
 history of our color sergeants from the time we went 
 to the front. Sergeant Clark, for want of proper care, 
 as I understood, bled to death. There is a drummer 
 boy here from Company H who was with him when he 
 died; he spoke to me to-day. 
 
 In speaking of the fight of the i6th you referred to 
 the log shanties. Of course you all remember those, 
 and then the ravine into which we went and up which 
 we fired. I seemed to be right along with Sergeant Per- 
 cival then, for he said, " Dearborn, make for this log." 
 We got behind that log, and laid our cartridges on it, 
 and he fired two shots to my one. But he said, "Keep 
 on firing." And I remember being on the skirmish line 
 on the 6th of April. 
 
 This was such a large regiment that, although there 
 
56 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 were so many of our men knocked out at Spottsylvania 
 June 16, 18, and 22, it is surprising how few men there 
 were at the surrender. You see we lost nearly four 
 hundred on the first send off, and three hundred were 
 taken the 22d of June to go to Andersonville and those 
 places, because our flank was exposed, and besides 
 there were Cold Harbor and Totopotomy Creek. 
 
 There came an order for a detail to go and guard 
 our train, and "Governor" 1 [Hazen S.] Pingree of 
 Company F was detailed as one of the guards. Mosby 
 captured the whole outfit. I know Captain Littlefield 
 came and said, "I will take the man who has the two 
 sorest feet." I was in hopes he would take me, to be 
 honest, but he took a man by the name of Alger from 
 Quincy, from our company, and Coney. Coney died 
 in Andersonville a raving maniac, and Alger was left 
 on the field with a charge of buckshot in him. He came 
 home to Quincy, but afterwards died. 
 
 I don t know but I have wandered from my subject. 
 I like to talk to the regiment. This is the greatest day 
 I have ever seen in the regiment. As has been said, we 
 are indebted to Comrade Melvin for all this. I felt like 
 keeping quiet and thinking it over after I got home, 
 but I would not have missed it for anything. There 
 was a comrade coming in on the train this morning who 
 had been invited to be here to sing with the singers. 
 
 1 Mayor of Detroit, Michigan, 1889, and Governor of Michigan, 
 1897-99, better known as "Potato Patch Pingree." 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 57 
 
 He said, "I would rather give ten dollars than to be 
 away from this to-day, but I have got to be at the Cus 
 tom House." I thank you for calling upon me. 
 
 COMRADE BRADLEY: Of course it is a delightful 
 occasion and we could stay here all the afternoon, but 
 time goes on. It is very strange how these little inci 
 dents refresh your memory, and, while not meaning 
 to be personal, we have to be a little so in our recitals. 
 I knew we had a color sergeant who fell on the i6th, 
 and we had one on the i8th, and I remember now Com 
 rade Clark, who was carried behind the O Hare house 
 after he was severely wounded. It is just as clear as if 
 it had happened five minutes ago. About that time 
 Colonel Tannatt, who commanded the brigade before 
 he was wounded, sent an order to Major Shatswell for 
 ammunition, and in my position as bugler with Shats 
 well I was sent to order it up. I was mounted on a 
 little black horse, that one of the aides gave me, and I 
 rode back to the rear, to the ordnance officer, and de 
 livered my order. You would be surprised, Comrades, 
 to know the amount of ammunition you fired between 
 half-past five and ten on the i6th of June. If I am not 
 mistaken, three times that order came to me for am 
 munition. The second time, coming back, I came be 
 hind the house and heard a voice. I went up, and 
 Color Sergeant Clark spoke to me and said, "For God s 
 sake, Bugler, give me a drink of water." I gave him a 
 drink of water out of a canteen. 
 
58 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 The next day, if I am not mistaken, we lost another 
 sergeant, the sergeant who was carrying the state colors. 
 Is that right, Comrade Dearborn? On the i8th the 
 state colors went down, and a corporal of the color 
 guard took them and carried them forward, and I think 
 carried them to the end; that was Comrade Dame of 
 Company B. If Comrade Dame is here I want to know 
 if I am telling the truth in regard to the i8th. Com 
 rade Dame, is he here ? He was here a minute ago. I 
 am sure of it. As the comrade is not present, let us 
 hear from Comrade Charles H. Shaw of Company E. 
 
 COMRADE CHARLES H. SHAW, CAMBRIDGE 
 
 Mr. Toastmaster: I thank you for calling upon me. 
 Many things have come back to me during the talks 
 to-day, especially the conversation that Comrade Wilder 
 gave us. I was one of those unfortunates that went to 
 Andersonville. Out of thirty-three taken that day, I 
 am one of five that are on earth to-day. But what 
 came back to me very vividly was the death of your 
 brother, Comrade Melvin, the 25th day of September. 
 I was in Company E and was watching one of my 
 boys, James G. West, who enlisted from Bradford, 
 though he was a Newton, New Hampshire, boy. We 
 had a little something to do; we helped Company K 
 and Company D. He knew he could live but a little 
 while. He called me, and he said, "Charley, if you live 
 to get out of this Hell on earth I have a few little trin- 
 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 59 
 
 kets here that I want returned to my dear old mother 
 up there in Newton." I took those trinkets, and I gave 
 them to that dear old mother. I was a Newton boy also, 
 but when I got there I was in such a condition that I 
 could not be moved for nineteen days after reaching my 
 home. She heard that I was there, and she had a car 
 riage sent for me to go to her residence. I went on that 
 errand of mercy, and she wanted me to give her a de 
 scription of her son s death. I could not do it all at once. 
 I gave it to her easy. It was on the 25th day of Septem 
 ber, the very day that your brother died. I remember 
 it very well, and how I stood by West, gazing at him, 
 because Comrade Wilder and the rest of the old com 
 rades will recall that we watched for the boys to die. 
 We could then go outside to carry out the dead who died 
 before sunset, and thus get a chance to bring back some 
 wood to cook our food with, so we laid for chartces. I 
 thank you for calling upon me. 
 
 COMRADE BRADLEY : - - We would like to hear a word 
 from Comrade Wait. I think Comrade Wait was ac 
 quainted with the boys. If not, we would like to hear 
 from him anyway. 
 
 COMRADE LUTHER WAIT, IPSWICH 
 
 I cannot say that I was individually acquainted with 
 the boys ; I recollect them, as I do a great many others. 
 We were never connected with Company K as much as 
 we were with some other companies. Company F of 
 
60 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 Lawrence we were quite intimately acquainted with, 
 because we camped together a great deal. Nevertheless, 
 they were comrades of our regiment, comrades of mine, 
 as I wrote our host when I answered his kind invitation, 
 for which I wish to thank him very kindly. 
 
 I was going to say I had enjoyed, and I have enjoyed, 
 myself on this occasion, although of course there is sad 
 ness mixed with it. My visit to this town on this occa 
 sion I am glad has happened on such a beautiful day 
 as this. My former impressions of Concord were not 
 very pleasant, as I was never here but once before in my 
 life, and that was on the one hundredth anniversary 
 of Concord and Lexington, which many of you prob 
 ably remember was one of the roughest days that you 
 ever experienced, nothing but snow squalls all day long. 
 But this is a fine day, and we have had a fine time. 
 Comrade Melvin has more than outdone himself in 
 entertaining the comrades of this regiment, and we are 
 under great obligations to him for the privilege of meet 
 ing in this old historic town, where the shot was fired 
 that was heard round the world. Of those who lie 
 buried in this old historic town, dating back to those 
 days, none are more deserving of praise for what they 
 did for this country than are the three brothers whose 
 death we commemorate to-day, who fell in defence of 
 what the forefathers established. They lie at rest. 
 
 "For them the muffled drum has beat 
 The soldier s last tattoo; 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 61 
 
 No more on Life s parade shall meet 
 
 That brave and fallen few. 
 On Fame s eternal camping-ground 
 
 Their silent tents are spread, 
 And Glory guards with solemn round 
 
 The bivouac of the dead." 
 
 COMRADE BRADLEY : Is Comrade Gibson here ? 
 We would like to hear a word from Comrade Gibson of 
 Company F. 
 
 COMRADE GEORGE S. GIBSON, CLINTON 
 
 I don t know what I can say, Comrades, of interest 
 to you, though I might give a little description of my 
 experience in setting that monument on the battlefield 
 at Spottsylvania. 
 
 You will remember, when we first marched through 
 Fredericksburg, and on the march out to Spottsylvania, 
 the road over which we had to pass in order to reach that 
 city and reach the battlefield, and our experience there 
 for a few days. When you come to the project of taking 
 a monument weighing fifteen tons over those various 
 creeks, without bridges and without roads, excepting 
 what were mere apologies for roads, you may know that 
 a man was up against quite a proposition. On my ar 
 riving in Fredericksburg and viewing the monument 
 I was sent out, by the way, by Comrade Norcross, 1 who 
 built the monument, to set it, I took into considera- 
 
 1 Orlando W. Norcross, Company D, Worcester, one of the most dis 
 tinguished builders in the United States. 
 
62 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 tion in making the arrangements that the man who had 
 been on the ground was in the same business in which 
 I was, building monuments and setting them. We drove 
 to the ground and made up our minds about how many 
 teams it would take to get the monument there, and it 
 took six. We had twenty-four horses. In getting out 
 there we could pay no attention to the little culverts, 
 because the load would cut right through them, they 
 were built with logs laid across the runs, and a few 
 bushes and sticks laid over them for ordinary travel, - 
 so we had to get right outside and find a place at the side 
 of the crossings. When we crossed those creeks we had 
 to go down one side and up the other, doubling the 
 teams in order to pull up the other side. That was our 
 experience in getting out there. Finally we landed at 
 the ground about two o clock in the afternoon, and, by 
 the way, we had started at daylight. 
 
 You will remember that there is one piece of that 
 monument, the die, which has on it, not all the names 
 of the comrades, but an inscription which was placed 
 there by the committee. That piece, to my recollection, 
 weighs between four and five tons. We had a derrick, 
 and in raising the derrick of course we had to guy it 
 back. We had that die strapped and hitched to the 
 derrick and were ready to raise it, and the man whom 
 I had employed with his rigging wanted to strip the 
 boxing from the die before he raised it. I said to him, 
 "You will find it safer to set that first, and then strip it." 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 63 
 
 "Well," he said, "how are we going to get those shoes 
 from underneath it?" I said, "We will get them out, 
 but we won t take them off till we get it up there." We 
 set the team to the block, and began to raise. After we 
 got it up high enough we set the other teams to the other 
 blocks to straighten up on the derrick, and it brought 
 that die about two feet above the base upon which it 
 was to rest. It hung here for a few minutes, and we were 
 adjusting things so that we could lower it exactly into 
 place, when one of the guys of the derrick broke and 
 that piece, weighing four tons, dropped on to the top 
 of that stone. I had taken the precaution to put two 
 timbers across the under face to guard against accidents, 
 and when that came down there was no harm done, 
 excepting a little shaking of the foundation ; the foun 
 dation had been put in so substantially that it did not 
 settle a particle. We went to work and stripped the 
 die, and there was not a chip or a crack on it. I had the 
 satisfaction of knowing when the monument was set 
 in position that it consisted of four pieces, and that 
 there was not a corner chipped the size of your thumb 
 nail on the whole monument. It was as perfect a job 
 as was ever set on any battlefield or in any cemetery. 
 I was happy to have the privilege to set up such a beau 
 tiful memorial to the memory of the First Massachu 
 setts Heavy Artillery. 
 
 I won t take up your time any further. We have had 
 a love feast here which will go with us to the last days 
 
64 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 of our life, and I thank you for the privilege of saying 
 these few words. 
 
 COMRADE BRADLEY : Sergeant Wiley we would 
 like to hear a word from. 
 
 COMRADE JOSEPH E. WILEY, COMPANY L, STONEHAM 
 
 Mr. Toastmaster : It is always a regret to me on such 
 an occasion as this that I am not a born orator to ex 
 press what I feel. I have been in Concord several times 
 before. The first time was when the state mustered 
 here, the whole state, before the war. 1 I have been here 
 several times since. The last time was the one hun 
 dredth anniversary of Concord and Lexington. 
 
 COMRADE BRADLEY : What regiment were you in 
 before the war ? 
 
 COMRADE WILEY : The Fifth. I was in the same 
 regiment with the Melvin boys. I got Centennial 
 enough that day to last me one hundred years. I pre 
 sume I knew these Melvin boys at Fort Albany. I was 
 stationed there with Company K, and as I look at the 
 pictures I think I recognize one of them. But I am 
 a poor hand for names, and I never got the names. I 
 don t feel like taking up your time after the eloquent 
 speakers you have heard. I have had a fine time to 
 day. I thought at first I could not come, but I finally 
 could not resist and I am very glad I did not. 
 
 1 In the summer of 1858, Governor Nathaniel P. Banks mobilized at 
 Concord the entire militia of Massachusetts, utilizing for this purpose the 
 plain where now stands the Reformatory. 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 65 
 
 COMRADE BRADLEY: We would like to hear from 
 Comrcde Lewis of Company F. He is the watchdog 
 of our treasury. 
 
 COMRADE GEORGE H. LEWIS, MELROSE 
 
 I want to say, in regard to our treasury, that we are 
 not bankrupt. 
 
 As we are getting along in the day I am reminded 
 that we have passed the morning and passed the noon 
 hour, or the zenith, and we are looking toward the 
 horizon, looking toward the sunset, and so I will not 
 trespass on your valuable time. I want to say, however, 
 that this has been a pleasant day to me, that I have en 
 joyed every moment of it, and I think that our Com 
 rade Melvin has done the right thing, the real thing. 
 
 There are many things in this life that are mysteri 
 ous to us, things that we cannot comprehend, things 
 that are problems, and although we may try to solve 
 them, yet we are in the mist, yet we are unsatisfied with 
 our endeavors to prove them. Here were three boys, 
 the Melvin brothers, who were associated with us so 
 many years ago, grand boys. The name of Melvin is 
 familiar to my ears. Those boys were left behind. They 
 did not have the privilege of coming back to their na 
 tive state. They did not have the privilege of growing 
 up into full manhood with us. Why not ? Was it be 
 cause they were not as worthy as we ? Probably they 
 were as good, and perhaps better by nature than we 
 
66 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 were, but they were left behind. We cannot understand 
 why they should be left behind and we brought back 
 to our homes. Yet we are satisfied that there is a God, 
 a Father, infinite in mercy, and in love and wisdom. He 
 has permitted some to be taken and some to be left. We 
 are fortunate in being here, not, perhaps, because we 
 were accounted any more worthy than they, but through 
 the plenitude of the mercy of God. How is it ? We 
 cannot tell. Probably had they come home they would 
 have filled the position that was allotted to them with 
 the quality and the quantity that have been allotted to 
 some of us. They would have filled their position in 
 life with honor. Yet, as I said before, the infinite Fa 
 ther knoweth what is right and doeth all things well. 
 The great Emancipator, Liberator, the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, said : "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing, 
 and not one falleth to the ground without the Father ? 
 The very hairs of your head are numbered. Are ye not 
 worth more than many sparrows?" 
 
 When we think of the lives that were sacrificed in 
 that great war, the blood that was shed, the money ex 
 pended, what did it amount to ? We are enjoying to 
 day the fruition of our labors, and the generations 
 which are to come will enjoy the blessings that were 
 brought about by the efforts of the boys of the army 
 and the navy of the Civil War. 
 
 This indeed has been a glorious day. We will remem 
 ber it. Comrade Melvin has erected a grand and glori- 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 67 
 
 ous memorial for his brothers. It stands there as a 
 monument denoting the sacrifices that were made by 
 those boys. As the rising generation shall look upon it 
 they will admire their valor, and as the coming genera 
 tions shall come upon the stage of action and shall see 
 it, while they may have a tinge of sadness in their hearts 
 they will be glad that men dared to do and to die and to 
 stand the brunt of battle. 
 
 Comrades, we are under deep obligation to our Com 
 rade Melvin for this occasion. I know it will be long 
 remembered. I know that we shall cherish it, and we 
 shall think it over, and it is frescoed on our brain and 
 our mind and our heart. As the days go by, and as we 
 go down the declivity of life, this will be one bright spot 
 in our life. 
 
 I thank you for calling upon me. I think that we 
 have all enjoyed ourselves, and to those who have not 
 been fortunate enough to be with us we must give the 
 details of this glorious occasion. 
 
 COMRADE BRADLEY: Comrade Hawkins ! I would 
 like to say, while Comrade Hawkins is turning the mat 
 ter over in his mind, that names have been passed in to 
 me here trying to cover the different companies. Be 
 fore the Grand Army goes out I want to thank the Old 
 Concord Post for the large turnout that it made to-day 
 to escort us to the Memorial and return. I think there 
 were twenty members present and parading out of a 
 membership of something like thirty. 
 
68 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 A COMRADE : - - Twenty-seven. 
 
 COMRADE BRADLEY: Twenty-seven. That is doing 
 better still. It only shows that the old soldier and 
 sailor are willing and anxious to turn out when occa 
 sion calls. 
 
 Comrade Hawkins, can you give us a word ? And 
 if there is any comrade here who was personally ac 
 quainted with the comrades whose name we honor to 
 day, the three Melvin boys, we would like to hear from 
 him. Comrade Hawkins, a word! 
 
 COMRADE HENRY M. HAWKINS (C), DORCHESTER 
 
 Mr. Toastmaster and Comrades: I am more than 
 surprised that Comrade Bradley should call upon me, 
 there is so much better talent and there are so many 
 better orators than I am here, and I think that you 
 would be better pleased to hear from them than from 
 me. I will say, however, that the reception and enter 
 tainment that have been given by Comrade Melvin to 
 day are beyond anything that I anticipated, and I think 
 that I can safely say that when I tell the comrades 
 whom I meet what reception, what entertainment we 
 have had, what the Memorial is, and how constructed, 
 they will say that I am drawing the long bow. They 
 won t begin to believe that we were so royally enter 
 tained by one individual as we have been. Therefore, 
 Comrade Melvin, I heartily thank you for myself, and 
 I am sure that I express the wishes of the rest of the 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 69 
 
 comrades of this regiment, for this memorable enter 
 tainment. 
 
 COMRADE BRADLEY: Is there any comrade here 
 who was personally acquainted with any one of the 
 three boys, who can give us a word now that would be 
 of interest to us ? Comrade Wheeler ! 
 
 COMMANDER GEORGE F. WHEELER OF OLD CONCORD 
 
 POST 
 
 I am of Old Concord Post. I have been asked to give 
 some personal recollection of these three Melvin boys. 
 I like to go back, you know, to my early days, I am 
 a native of Concord, and my association with them 
 as boys is very pleasant to remember. They lived in 
 one part of the town and I in another, but we went to 
 the same church together, and as was customary in 
 those times when we went to church we carried our 
 dinners and spent the day there. So there was an early 
 acquaintance formed between us that was very plea 
 sant. John and Sam were in my Sunday-school class, 
 and that class of seven boys all went to the war ; three 
 of them did not return. But, as I say, I have a very 
 pleasant recollection of that early acquaintance with 
 them as small boys. One of the neighbors, who lived 
 nearest to Mr. Melvin, spoke of Mr. Melvin s father 
 in this wise : "If I was owing Mr. Asa Melvin anything 
 I should as lief he would come to my house and go in, 
 and get his pay out of my pocket-book. I am sure that 
 
70 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 he would do the correct thing," - showing the integ 
 rity of that family. So I think this early recollection 
 of the Melvin boys is one of the most joyous in my life. 
 I was well acquainted with others of the family, and it 
 is pleasant to tell of it to you here. 
 
 COMRADE BRADLEY : Is there any other comrade 
 here, of the Post or of the Association, who will just 
 say a word ? We have only a few minutes left. We shall 
 be very glad to hear from any one. 
 
 COMRADE GEORGE B. CLARK (H), SOMERVILLE 
 
 Mr. Toastmaster and Comrades of the First Massa 
 chusetts : I am proud to say that I am a member of the 
 First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, after what I have 
 heard to-day. I have attended many reunions of this 
 regiment in the past, but my voice has never been raised 
 at any of its meetings. I was one of the youngest mem 
 bers of that regiment. I recollect well when the regiment 
 filed out of Fort Albany that bright Sunday afternoon, 
 and took up the line of march for Alexandria; it was one 
 of the grandest regiments, I believe, I ever saw. They 
 knew where they were going, at least they were pretty 
 sure they knew where they were going. When that regi 
 ment crossed the Rappahannock on that pontoon 
 bridge and climbed up over the bricks and the ruins 
 that were in the pathway, and reached the main street of 
 the city, they unfurled their colors and marched through 
 it. Well do I recollect Major Rolfe singing out to un- 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 71 
 
 furl the colors. We marched through the city of Fred- 
 ericksburg and received the plaudits of the wounded 
 soldiers as they came out of the hospitals, and the women 
 and the children. Within forty-eight hours we went 
 into the battle of Spottsylvania and lost two hundred 
 and ninety-eight men, killed, wounded, and prisoners. 
 
 It was my lot to help the wounded. I recollect well 
 that I helped Captain Davis off the field to an ambu 
 lance. He was bright and cheerful. Having been shot 
 through the leg, he thought that he was only slightly 
 wounded, but I was surprised to hear of his death 
 shortly afterwards. Color Sergeant Clark was no rela 
 tive of mine, but I was well acquainted with him. He 
 was a splendid soldier, as brave a soldier as there was 
 in the regiment. I was with him the day he died. He 
 was brought to the Bryant Farm field hospital in the 
 evening, and the next day he got no treatment until 
 afternoon, there were so many wounded; but he had 
 lost considerable blood, and when he was put upon the 
 amputating table he never came out of the effects of the 
 ether. I was surprised; I was a short distance away 
 and I heard the report that he had gone. I went forward. 
 A stretcher stood near the table, with a blanket cover 
 ing the body. I removed the blanket, and at once recog 
 nized the color sergeant. He was buried with about 
 fifty others on the Bryant Farm. 
 
 We do well, Comrades, to come to these reunions and 
 erect monuments and memorials throughout the length 
 
72 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 and breadth of this land to commemorate heroic deeds, 
 but let us remember, and I have no doubt we all do 
 remember, the sacrifices made by those who remained 
 at home. Who can tell of the sacrifices made by the 
 mothers ? Mrs. Bixby of Boston gave five sons and re 
 ceived a personal letter from the immortal Lincoln, giv 
 ing his sympathy and condolence. This family gave 
 three. When I received a note of invitation from our 
 host and read it, I said to myself, "That strikes me 
 in the right spot. I shall be at that reunion if it is 
 a possible thing for me to be there." And I am here 
 to-day. 
 
 And those who perished in the prison pens of the 
 South have been brought vividly to our minds to-day. 
 The dust of these heroes lies in unknown graves, but 
 their names are enrolled in the lists of immortal heroes. 
 Some twenty odd years ago, one bright afternoon, some 
 thing similar to this, I stood in the National Cemetery 
 at Salisbury, North Carolina, where a schoolmate and 
 classmate of mine before the war was buried. I had al 
 ways wished to reach that spot and see if I could find 
 his grave. I entered that cemetery, and I rejoiced to 
 see that the government had bought up the land in which 
 these comrades were buried who had died there during 
 the war, and put a beautiful face wall about it, with iron 
 gates. I entered, and found the superintendent, a one- 
 armed Union soldier. He had me register my name, 
 took me up to a little knoll in that cemetery, and then he 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 73 
 
 turned and said, "There, Comrade, there are the 
 trenches." I looked and I saw three or four long green 
 mounds stretching away to the other end of the ceme 
 tery, not a headstone, not a stone to mark the name 
 of one. Standing nearest was a monument built by the 
 government, about thirty feet high f and on it was this 
 simple inscription: "11,800. Pro patriae." Eleven 
 thousand and eight hundred died for patriotism. They 
 died for love of country, for you and for me. 
 
 COMRADE BRADLEY : Comrades, I have no doubt 
 that we could put another twelve hours on to this after 
 noon, but it is getting along about that time of the day 
 in which you know we formed at Petersburg and had 
 to go into the fight. The battle of life is not yet over 
 with us, and we have other fights to engage in before 
 the end comes, at least, I hope so. I hope they will 
 be of such a kind that the victories will be more in the 
 line of peace and of progress and of all that goes for 
 good-will than in the line of hatred or temper or strife 
 on the battlefield. 
 
 Comrades, we cannot leave this historic town with 
 out saying just a word or two to clinch, as it were, what 
 has already been said. To those who have been here it 
 has been a delightful day. We are under deep and great 
 obligations to Comrade Melvin for inviting this old 
 regiment up here, and when we leave, Concord will be 
 more to us than it ever has been before. In our hearts 
 it has always been the place where liberty was born. 
 
74 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 We shall never forget what is inscribed on the monu 
 ment at the Old North Bridge. We shall never forget 
 that it was here that the determined stand was made 
 against the British army. 1 It is not oratory in Faneuil 
 Hall, it is not speech on the platform, no matter how 
 eloquent that may be, that brings to birth a nation ; it 
 requires the will of men facing fire and death. And it 
 was at Concord that this Nation had its birth in the 
 beginning of the War of the Revolution, and we hold 
 the name of Concord very dear to every true American. 
 But, Comrades, we will go away now feeling that here 
 is a monument that not only commemorates the three 
 comrades of our regiment, but that also speaks in most 
 kindly words the feeling that is in the heart of our com 
 rade who remains of that family. Not only does he erect 
 it to the memory of his three brothers, but he also joins 
 to-day in the expression he made as we entered the 
 cemetery to two or three around us, "It is also to the 
 First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, of which my 
 brothers were members." Comrade Melvin, you have 
 a warm place in all our hearts. We wish we could have 
 the time and the occasion to show it. But if the Lord 
 lets us live and we have our reunions, come down and 
 see us, and you will find the boys that stood shoulder 
 to shoulder with your brothers under the old colors 
 of the First Massachusetts are just as true to-day as 
 
 1 Major Buttrick s command, "Fire, for God s sake, fire!" was the 
 first time Americans had ever been ordered to fire on British troops. 
 
THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 75 
 
 they were then, and you will have a very large place in 
 all our lives from this day on. God bless the old First 
 Heavies and bless the man who had the thought to com 
 memorate in this marble Memorial the sacrifices, not 
 only of his own kin, but also the deeds of the regiment 
 of which they were honored members. 
 
 We shall go from this place, Comrades, feeling that 
 we have spent at least a few hours in something that 
 will do more for us than pleasure, that has brought to 
 us more than money can buy: it has brought to us 
 the memories of the day when together we fought under 
 the dear old flag. And we are glad to see it adorning 
 this room. Memories of the past come rushing in on 
 us here. We can hardly express ourselves as we think 
 of the boys that were piled up at Spottsylvania and that 
 fell in the trenches before Petersburg and all down 
 through the Weldon Road until finally victory crowned 
 our efforts at Appomattox. The past is gone, but the 
 memory of it will be joined with the memory of this day 
 in one of the sweetest recollections of our entire lives. 
 
 Comrade Melvin has a word to say before we close 
 our meeting. 
 
 COMRADE MELVIN: One or two things I want 
 to mention. One is that your Chaplain Barker mar 
 ried his wife here, and was closely associated with this 
 town. Your Adjutant, Charles F. Simmons, was a 
 Concord boy. His name is not on our soldiers monu 
 ment, but he was, none the less, a victim of the war. 
 
76 THE MELVIN MEMORIAL 
 
 He died while he was at sea for his health, and techni 
 cally, perhaps, he did not die in the war. 
 
 I want to thank you each and all. If ever I can do 
 anything for you in any way, count me one of your num 
 ber. [Applause.] 
 
 COMRADE BRADLEY : In half an hour the barges 
 will be here to take you down. I hope you will all have 
 an opportunity to shake hands with Comrade Melvin 
 before you go. 
 
 This closed the speechmaking at the dinner. Mem 
 bers of the regiment were then taken in barges to view 
 historic spots in Concord, afterwards returning to Bos 
 ton in special cars attached to the regular train leaving 
 shortly after five o clock. Before leaving Concord each 
 Comrade was given a framed photograph of the monu 
 ment as a souvenir. 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
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DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 CAME to Fort Warren Monday the last of June (1861). 
 Left Fort Warren Aug. 7, Wednesday night, at 9 o clock. 
 Co. left Boston and got to Providence at 4, took the "Com 
 modore" for New York at 12, & arrived there at 12. Went 
 to barracks & took breakfast, then went on a tour over the 
 city. Got a revolver at 277 Broadway and gave $9- boot. 
 Went over the ferry to Jersey, then to Philadelphia. Got 
 there at 4 & went to the saloon for breakfast. Started for 
 Baltimore at 6, got there at 12. Started for Washington at 
 4, got here at 9. Stopped in the building side of the railroad. 
 Started for Camp Kalorama in a shower and got there in 
 about 4 hours. Went up on a hill and lay in the rain all 
 night. Pitched our tents and stayed one week, then went 
 to Fort Albany. I was sick lay on the ground just a 
 week & am getting better. 
 
 Oct. 3. Went to Washington with John. Visited the 
 Capitol, Patent Office, Smithsonian Institution, Navy 
 and War Depts, Treasury, Post Office, and the White 
 House. 
 
 Oct. 16. A visit from Gov. Andrew. 
 
 Nov. 15. A review by Gov. Berry of N. H. 
 
 Nov. 20. Went to a grand review at Kelly s Cross 
 Roads. It was a splendid sight of Gen. McClellan, Presi 
 dent & Staff. There were 90 regts. of infantry, 9 of cavalry, 
 & 20 batteries, amounting to about 75,000. 
 
80 DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 Jan. I, 1862. Went to Washington & shook hands 
 with the President at his reception. 
 
 Mar. 13. Went to the city & got things for my electrical 
 machine. 
 
 Mar. 27. Got marching orders, struck our tents and tore 
 everything to pieces. Fell in line at 9. The orders were 
 countermanded, then we went as orders said to Ft. Barnard, 
 pitched tents, & got orders to come back to Ft. Albany. 
 Such a blessing as Col. gave us I never heard. 1 Then we 
 fixed the barracks & pitched tents over [near] the quar 
 termaster s, & then got orders to go in Co. H. barracks. 
 The Col. took our colors away from us and gave them to 
 us again. 
 
 April 17. Got paid $24-. Went to Arlington House 
 and got an old battery. 
 
 April 19. Went to Washington with G. D. Hayes & 
 stopped over night. Bought an old battery from a dealer. 
 June 5. Sent to Thomas Hall $22.09 for 
 Key $3.00 
 
 Spring Register 15-00 
 
 2 Main Batteries 3.24 
 
 YZ Ib. mercury .35 
 
 Hall s book on Telegraphy .50 
 
 $22.09 
 
 Received the above all safe June 16 with the present of a 
 nice book from Hall. Also [received] the express bill, $r, 
 which I sent the i8 th . 
 
 1 The colonel was a West Point graduate, and very strict. He was angry 
 with the men for destroying the barracks, and took away their colors as 
 a punishment, till they entirely repaired the damage. 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 81 
 
 Aug. 5. Four years today since my father died. . . . 
 We were visited by President Lincoln at Fort Albany. The 
 boys were reviewed by him at Ft. Ward. Very hot, and 
 many boys gave out. 
 
 On the night of the io th some rascal stole from my 
 pocket everything but my knife. I was very thankful for 
 him to leave me that. The pocket book contained one ten 
 dollar Treasury note, three dollar bills on the Bull Head 
 bank, & 200 in change besides the quarter Caroline gave 
 me in 1857, 2 rings & postage. They reached in the 
 implement room window & took it. ... Never mind, it 
 is all for the country. But if I get hold of the man he will 
 suffer 13 dollar s worth with good interest. 
 
 Aug. 26. Got marching orders. Started at 9 o clock 
 and marched some 5 miles, and lay on the ground. 
 
 Aug. 27. Page has the chills and I am afraid he can t 
 march. I told him so, but he does n t mind. We marched 
 about one mile into a fine grove where we rested. Learned 
 that they are fighting at Manassas, & we started off. Page 
 had gone off to lie down & I looked for him a long while. 
 At last I found him very sick. I told Lt. Davis, & he sent 
 the doctor. The doctor says Page must stay where [he] is, 
 on the ground. I thought it very hard, but I put the blanket 
 over him & with great sadness bade him good-bye. We 
 marched a little beyond Fairfax C. H., halted, & flung all 
 our knapsacks in a pile. We were all every way, bayonets 
 unfixed & guns not loaded when over a hill we saw a part of 
 
 a battery coming like with the guerrillas behind them. 
 
 We all ran in the field in great confusion, loaded, fixed 
 bayonets, & ran & formed in line of battle in the woods 
 
82 DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 where we now are, all on the ground. I must say I was 
 sorry to leave Page behind. Stayed in line of battle all 
 night & in the morning (28 th ) found they had got in our 
 rear & taken Drs. Mason & Dana & three teams. The 
 doctors were released. We found they were all around us 
 & we must fight, so we prepared for the best. All the 
 teamsters got on the horses to disguise [simulate ?] cavalry 
 & they dare not attack us. Finally our company went on 
 picket. We got two companies of cavalry. We found there 
 was a large force around us & we prepared to fight our 
 way back in the evening. Our company was rear guard. 
 We got through all safe and reached Clouds Mills late at 
 night & took our old tents. We lost H. Folsom. Riley 
 prisoner also. McClellan s headquarters are within a few 
 rods of us. He has gone and we have orders to march, no 
 one knows where. We marched by Ft. Albany, over in the 
 woods, & lay on the ground beyond Ft. Tillinghast. 
 
 Sunday, Aug. 31. It rains and here we are at Fort 
 Albany, home again & settled down. 
 
 Sept. I. --Things are very lively here. It looks like 
 Bull Run. The valley is full of teams, etc. 
 
 Sept. 4. All of Banks s division passed by on the way to 
 Harper s Ferry. There is a string of them as far as the eye 
 can see in every direction. The road is full of troops and 
 wagons. 
 
 Dec. 10. Page promoted a corporal. . . . 
 
 March 23, 1863. Sent to T. B. Peterson & Bro., Phila 
 delphia, for " French without a Master." 
 
 Apr. 22. Sent to Parsells for a Craig Microscope. 
 
 May 30. Sent to Thomas Hall $18.70 for 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 83 
 
 6 Groves Batteries $12.00 
 Silliman s Chemistry 2.00 
 Platers i.oo 
 
 2 Ibs. copper wire 2.50 
 
 I Ib. mercury .70 
 
 j u ly 3. Went to Ft. Whipple to see Lt. Dow. Was 
 15 minutes late for drill and was incarcerated and kept 
 until the next morning, when I was released from durance. 
 Sept. 19. Visited Dow and received a nice present 
 from him a large dictionary which I shall always 
 prize very much. 
 
 Sent a communication to the Chronicle. 
 
 Went in the Hospital Sept. 30 and came out Oct. 10. 
 
 Tues. Oct. Qth, Bro. John went in the hospital sick with 
 the dysentery. I was in the hospital at the time. I left the 
 hospital the next morning. He was very sick. Doctor gave 
 himopium didnogood. I was in to see him Sunday. He 
 was asleep. Did not wake him. In to see him next morning, 
 he was no better. I saw he was very sick. Went in at noon 
 & he was no better. With the doctor s permission I gave 
 him a recipe of Hunters. Took it all the afternoon and 
 night every y 2 hour. Did no good. Next morning, Oct. 13, 
 saw he could not live long. I was on guard, but got excused 
 to take care of him. In the afternoon saw there was no 
 chance for him to get well. Spoke about sending for Caro 
 line. He said he did not think it would pay under the cir 
 cumstances. He told me the last letter Mother ever wrote 
 him was in his box. He wished me to burn the rest of his 
 letters. The doctor spoke to him about dying, but he did 
 
84 DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 not say much, he was so weak. He said he thought there 
 was a chance for him to get well. He asked for the Chap 
 lain, who came and prayed. Asa was present. He said he 
 wanted me to stay with him and he thought I ought to have 
 the privilege. The doctor said he should [have me with 
 him]. The doctor told me he could not live until noon. I 
 was with him all the time. Asa Rowe and C. B. Foster sat 
 up with him. He failed very fast from the middle of the 
 afternoon and died very easy at last at n o clock at night. 
 
 Friday, Oct. 1 6, 1863. ... Got John s box & packed his 
 things, burned his letters, put his blanket, dishes, overcoat, 
 etc. in his box to wait until I hear from the folks. . . . 
 Gave Asa one of John s rubber blankets. Went to see Capt. 
 Preston. He sent $70 by me yesterday to settle John s 
 accounts. 
 
 Wed.) Oct. 28, 1863. . . . Received a very nice diary 
 from Dow, the best one I have ever seen. Went to Reg t l 
 drill. It is a grand and sublime scene to see a good regi 
 ment well dressed march along and keep perfectly in line 
 with a good band, and Old Va. doth fairly tremble at the 
 solid and firm tread of citizen soldiery. 
 
 Sat., Oct. 31. Mustered by Colonel Tannatt for 2 
 months pay. I noticed there was no John H. Melvin as 
 usual. 
 
 Wed., Nov. 4, 1863. Great excitement over re-enlist 
 ment. I did not [re-enlist] nor did Page. No drill. Page & I 
 went to see Dow in the evening. . . . Rec d letter from 
 James with sprigs from Mother s & Father s graves. 
 
 Wed.,Nov. n, 1863. George Cummings went home, 
 also some others. 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 85 
 
 Tuesday, Nov. 17. Packed up my things, big book and 
 all, put John s things in Hospital tent. Going to have a $50 
 Thanksgiving Dinner. Rec d letter from Dow offering me 
 a College Education. 
 
 Wed., Nov. 1 8. . . . Moved in afternoon to Ft. Craig. 
 I was left for guard. 
 
 Friday, Nov. 20. ... Lt. Hart, adjt., detailed me in 
 the magazine. Excused from all duty but Sunday inspec 
 tion. . . . 
 
 Thursday, Nov. 26. This is Thanksgiving, and my 
 principal enjoyment is in thinking it is the last one I shall 
 have to pass in the Army. 
 
 Tuesday, Dec. I. Sent letter to James. ... I got no 
 sleep. Went to bed, but could not sleep in Hell. Got a 
 table, just what I wanted. Have got my library out on it. 
 
 Saturday, Dec. 5. Man is a social being, and rather than 
 be alone he sometimes chooses [for friends] those he would 
 not in social life at home. Yet I never have formed friend 
 ships that I should reject at home. ... I was in a contem 
 plative mood, and how sweet it was to see two intimate 
 friends make up their beds, and lie down in close and sym 
 pathetic communion there. I refer to S. Holt and C. Bur 
 rows. 
 
 Sat., Dec. 12. Went to City with Dow; had a good time. 
 Bought Pope s Works, $1.25, & he got a book on Mytho 
 logy. . . . Filled out the blank application & G. S. C. con 
 gratulated me as a F. & A. M. . . . 
 
 Thursday, Dec. 17. Rained all day, did nothing. Wrote 
 an essay on Home. Page on guard. How dreary such 
 weather is ! This is emblematic of the cloudy days of life. 
 
86 DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 Friday , Dec. 1 8. Sent essay on Home to Caroline. 
 
 Sunday, Dec. 20. Studied Masonry. . . . -&- 
 played cards. I thought it rather rough for civilized folks 
 in this Age of Light. 
 
 Friday, Dec. 25. Today is Christmas. Today do we 
 commemorate the birth of our Saviour. Today is the day 
 for presents, but I have none, neither do I give any. Dow 
 said he gave me my diary for a Christmas present, so I have 
 one after all. . . . 
 
 Monday, Dec. 28. Rained all day. Went to a dance, but 
 did not dance. It made me homesick to see a dance going 
 on. Never mind, next year at this time, if nothing happens, 
 I will have a soft time then. Rec d a letter from James. 
 Made apple sauce. 
 
 Tuesday, Dec. 29. Wrote a letter to James, & had along 
 talk with Charles Burrows on various topics. Charles and 
 Sam are two good boys, and I hope will succeed well in life. 
 
 Wednesday, Dec. 30. Asa went to city and got his pay as 
 a Veteran Vol. $103. . . . John- - came home inebri 
 ated. Oh what demoralization in the Army ! 
 
 Thursday 
 Dec. 3i st 
 
 1863 
 
 The Old Year 
 is Dying! 
 
 Today is the end of another year. The trials and troubles 
 of another year are over, and we soon emerge on another 
 time. With what emotions and impressions does the old 
 year leave us ! Here is a fit time to take a retrospective 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 87 
 
 view of the old year and see if we are living as we should, 
 and to decide how to improve our time, and how to better 
 live in the future. 
 
 The past year has brought to our hallowed circle of the 
 family a serious change. The old year of 63 has borne 
 along with its tide two of our beloved family. Soon after it 
 came in, Feb. 7, it took into the spirit world our beloved 
 Mother, and Bro. John, who was in good health at that 
 time, did sorely lament her. Alas ! the Archangel came with 
 the old year and summoned him, Oct. 13, to a higher sphere 
 of action. They have expired as regards this mortal exist 
 ence, and now the old year is trembling on the verge of time 
 before taking that leap in the dreamy future of which we 
 know so little. With it has gone Bro. Berry, one who was 
 a good old man to me, and one [with] whom I have spent 
 many hours of pleasant and instructive conversation. But 
 he has been permitted to go a little in advance of us all. In 
 conclusion let us say that with the end of the old year, when 
 it ceases, we will cease to do evil and learn to do well. . . . 
 
 Dance in our ambient-room, facetiously called a New 
 Year s Ball. I witnessed it, but did not shake the hoof. 
 Such is this world, one man finds amusement in one 
 thing, and another in something else. I am fond of dancing, 
 think it is a very pretty amusement when it is conducted on 
 the right principles. 
 
 Tonight I must close this book, which I bought in Wal- 
 tham in 1859. I have not put many things down, but next 
 year I shall be very punctilious and note [everything] in 
 my new diary, which was a Christmas present from Dow. 
 It is a good idea, and I cannot express the joy it afforded 
 
88 DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 me in looking over John s [diary] when he had passed to the 
 Summer Land. Perhaps in some future day, after I shall 
 have passed to the spirit life, some one may take as much 
 pleasure in looking over this. Who can tell ? But if I shall 
 pass away ere another year, t is all for the best. With this 
 little remark I close my diary for 1863, leaving it to the fate 
 of time. 
 
 Samuel Melvin 
 Co. "K" I st . Mass. H. A. 
 
 Fort Craig, Va. 
 
 Friday, January i, 1864. Today we emerge on another 
 New Year. The Old Year has departed, it has gone into 
 eternity, and with it have vanished many pleasant reminis 
 cences and many fond hopes. Many changes has it wrought 
 - and sad ones, too. . . . What changes the year will 
 make none but the Omniscient can tell. Where will I be 
 next New Year s Day ? With Dow in London, I hope. 
 
 Saturday, January 2, 1864. Today is very cold indeed, 
 but fair. Yesterday fifteen recruits came for Co. K. & 300 
 for the First Mass. Some of them look like fine young men, 
 but I am very much afraid some of them will not be when 
 they have been soldiers three years. Asa s furlough came 
 and he starts for Concord with Mason. . . . 
 
 Sunday, January 3, 1864. Went on inspection my 
 fingers almost froze. . . . Jan. ist Col. Tannatt s H. Q. 
 burned. 
 
 Monday, January 4, 1864. Big snow storm, the first of 
 the season. Received letters from - , James, & Caro 
 line. Caroline wants me to write something to be read at 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 89 
 
 her close of school after keeping 7 years, and Aunt Wheeler 
 wants me to write for the Boston Journal. I guess they 
 think me quite a literary character. 
 
 Tuesday, January 5, 1864. Wrote a long letter to Caro 
 line; sent her Bro. Berry s acrostic on my name. . . . Page 
 is sick with the plaguy shakes again. I think it is a pity 
 to see such virtuous men suffer so much. I spilt a dipper of 
 coffee on Sergt. Wallace s head tonight. . . . 
 
 Thursday, January 7, 1864. . . . Page still in hospital. 
 I am quite lonely without him to eat with me. Rather poor 
 boarding now, bread and coffee; still it is all nature re 
 quires. 
 
 Wednesday, January 13, 1864. - - ... Asa got home last 
 Thursday. Sergt. went to Div. H. Q. 
 
 Thursday, January 14, 1864. Worked all day packing 
 up ammunition pretty tired. . . . The Major came in 
 here tonight I entertained him as well as a private 
 could. Received from Mrs. Emery one half of the biggest 
 mince pie I ever saw. 
 
 Monday, January 18, 1864. . . . Worked all the after 
 noon on Pat s pistol; put in a new spring. He gave me 50 
 cents & I believe that this is the first money, other than 
 my pay, that I have earned since I came for a soldier. 
 
 Tuesday, January 19, 1864. . . . Very bleak and cold. 
 How glad I am to be so finely situated beside a snug fire, 
 while I hear the wind whistle about the old bomb-proof. . . . 
 Pat C. took my watch to sell I am surely too honest to 
 make a speculator. What an appalling catastrophe in Chili 
 2000 human souls sent to the other world in 1 1 minutes. 
 
 Friday, January 22, 1 864. A corporal in Co. G. stripped 
 
9 o DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 at dress parade for not answering Maj. Rolfe right. Orders 
 read as regards boxes, &c. Every man is allowed a box in 
 the army. Got some things for electroplating, and if I could 
 get enough work I could make money like smoke. Set my 
 battery up & gave the Sergt a shock. Went to bid Gould 
 good-bye, his discharge came to-day. I am glad. Studied 
 Elect., Metallurgy, Science. 
 
 Monday, January 25, 1864. Plated a chain for John 
 Welsh, put on a good plate. I am going to send for a quart 
 of gold solution to T. Hall, 13 Bromfield St. My battery 
 works first rate. Plated a hook for P. Connors. 
 
 Wednesday, January 27, 1864. . . . Sent by Handy to 
 T. Hall for one quart gold solution. Handy went home on a 
 furlough of 30 days. S. B. fixed my axe on for me. Bully 
 for him ! 
 
 "Thursday, January 28, 1864. . . . Nothing to eat but 
 bread. Rather rough living, but guess I can stand it. 
 
 Friday, January 29, 1864. Plated Page s belt. Corp. 
 McKay arrived home from Lawrence. . . . Orders read on 
 Parade that Sunday morning Inspection will be Saturday 
 at 10 o clock. That is the most sensible order I ever knew 
 Tannatt to issue. 
 
 Monday, February i, 1864. Received a letter from Dow 
 telling me to look with good cheer 5 months ahead to the 
 Metropolitan Chambers [London]. First plated a chain for 
 Wheeler, and then the butt of a pistol for the sutler. Am 
 going to plate the barrel, too. Asa came back from his fur 
 lough. 
 
 Tuesday, February 2, 1864. Order read on Parade 
 relieving all of Tannatt s staff officers, and appointing 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 91 
 
 John M. Dow to act as Regt. Adjutant. Worked all day 
 trying to plate a pistol for the sutler; got all discouraged. 
 Tried more than forty times, could not get it to go. 
 
 Wednesday, February 3, 1864. Fussed all day with the 
 sutler s pistol. It won t plate a bit. I never saw such a trial 
 in my life. 
 
 Thursday, February 4, 1 864. Page gone to the city. Got 
 Milton s Paradise Lost for 200. ... I worked all day on 
 the pistol; no success. I am about distracted. Made two 
 new solutions; no success. Broke the jar of one of my bat 
 teries, and thus things go. Hobbs can t make my things 
 work. 
 
 Friday, February 5, 1864. Received from Mr. Newman 
 a recommendation for almost anything. I am very much 
 pleased with it. Worked all day on the pistol, but it is no 
 go yet. Don t know what I shall do with the plaguy thing. 
 
 Saturday, February 6, 1864. Fussed with the pistol. 
 Came to the sublime conclusion that the battery is not 
 strong enough, so I will get some more acid and try that. 
 
 Sunday, February J, 1864. Put on citizen s clothes to 
 see how I would look. Did not know myself. Last night a 
 train ran off the draw at Long Bridge; killed several and 
 wounded several. ... I wish I was a citizen and could 
 wear the clothes. 
 
 Monday, February 8, 1864. Sent to the city for one Ib. 
 of nitric acid. Worked on the old pistol. Great signs of 
 success. Set up three of my batteries and I guess it will go 
 now. I never had such a torment in my life, and hope I never 
 shall again. . . . Asa and the veterans went to the city for 
 their ration money ; got $5. 
 
92 DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 Tuesday, February 9, 1864. Finished the sutler s pistol. 
 He paid me 75 cts. I had a heap of trouble with it, and 
 poisoned my hand. It is pretty sore, but I am glad to get the 
 job off my hands. Think I almost prefer the poison. 
 
 Wednesday, February 10, 1864. I am thinking of the 
 short duration of army life. I wish it was all over now, and I 
 with Dow at the M. C. enjoying ourselves as it was intended 
 we should. But I am of good cheer. All s for the best, I 
 guess. I am trying to think so anyway. 
 
 Thursday, February n, 1864. . . . Ate for the first time 
 in our mess house. Did not like it very much. . . . Looked 
 over the cartridges, aired the primer & fuses. Page on 
 guard, S. B. ill, and so things go. 
 
 Saturday, February 13, 1864. Visit from Mr. Emery, 
 quite a social talk with him. . . . Did not do much today. 
 Had quite a discussion about the Blarney Stone. I said there 
 was such a stone, they said there was not, but I think I will 
 go and see for myself soon. 
 
 Wednesday, February 17, 1864. . . . It is mighty cold, 
 coldest weather of the winter. The guard house got on fire. 
 . . . Page on guard. I must sleep alone. Am afraid I will 
 sleep cold. 
 
 Thursday, February 18, 1864. . . . Bomb-Proof got on 
 fire last night. The men got up in the middle of the night 
 to extinguish it, which they did at last. It is awful cold. 
 
 Friday, February 19, 1864. . . . Inspection by Maj. 
 Rolfe. He took a great shine to my library. Told Shatswell 
 I was a well versed fellow. Shatswell says, "Yes, he is a 
 good boy." Bully for him! 
 
 Saturday, February 20, 1864. . . . Went to Handy s & 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 93 
 
 got a bottle of gold solution. It is mighty small. Charles 
 spent the evening in here, and S. B. & Page. Tried some 
 gold leaf with my acid ; no effect. Put a shelf up for my 
 apparatus. It looks much better. 
 
 Sunday, February 21, 1864. --Tried my gold solution. 
 Did not dilute it and it did not go at all. Wrote to Hall to 
 know about it, but found my mistake through Handy, so 
 guess I am all right. Heard good words from Thomas Hall. 
 I am pretty tired, but there is rest for the weary. 
 
 Monday, February 22, 1864. Pay Rolls came, signed 
 them. Plated a watch for Pat. Solution worked first rate. 
 Mixed my gold solution and tried it. It does not work very 
 well, but guess it will after a while. 
 
 Monday, February 29, 1864. . . . Today is the last of 
 the old winter, and one more muster will muster us where 
 we wish to be in civil life. The Co. received marching 
 orders. No one knows where they are going. 
 
 Tuesday, March I, 1864. . . . Got a letter from 
 Thomas Hall giving me advice on plating. Tried it and it 
 goes first rate. How glad I am ! 
 
 Thursday, March 10, 1864. Rained all day. Plated 
 three or four chains, etc., which took first rate. Tried my 
 gold again, but it is no go, it is very dark. 
 
 Monday, March 14, 1864. Took an account of all the 
 stuff here. Last night orders read on parade that we are 
 to be frequently called up in the night. I am glad they can t 
 call me up but three months longer. 
 
 Tuesday, March 15, 1864. Greased all the heavy guns. 
 A detail of 40 men went to Ft. Strong to work on a road. 
 Orders came for us to go to Ft. Tillinghast tomorrow morn- 
 
94 DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 ing. I asked them if I should go. They say not until the 
 Sergt. comes back. ... I am very sorry our Co. is going. 
 
 Wednesday, March 1 6, 1864.-- . . . The Co. went to 
 Tillinghast today. I stay here until the Sergt. gets back, 
 and am assigned to Co. F. Today we made a splendid 
 raid and got three full barrels of wood. It was very suc 
 cessful, considering the blood that was spilt. I don t like 
 to go to Tillinghast very much. 
 
 Saturday, March 19, 1864. Great excitement, the Rebs 
 expected. I got three extra men and everything ready. 
 Co. F. came in the fort and stopped all night. All lay on 
 their arms. 
 
 Tuesday, March 22, 1864. Great snow storm for this 
 time of year. ... So awful cold we did not do much, but 
 kept a good fire. 
 
 Wednesday, March 23, 1864. ... Had 4 Corps., I Sergt., 
 & 25 men report to me to shovel snow. One in Co. F. felt 
 grieved, but I could not help his case any. 
 
 Thursday, March 24, 1864. . . . They shoveled snow 
 out of the fort all day. Worked on the two Parrott guns. 
 
 Friday, March 25, 1864. O it is an awful rainy night! 
 All I can say is I do thank my stars that I am not on guard. 
 Tried my revolving magnet. Had a discussion on things 
 in general & got pretty rily. Don t think much of the feel 
 ing any way. 
 
 Wednesday, March 30, 1 864. Rained an d snowed all day. 
 Went to see Page in evening. Things go very well indeed. 
 I wish we could have better weather, it is so much more 
 pleasant, and I want to get things looking well before the 
 Sergt. gets back. 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 95 
 
 Saturday, April 2, 1864. Sergt. came home about i 
 o clock all right. Came in very sudden, we did not expect 
 him quite so soon. He is not very well. . . . Sergt. gave me 
 a nice hat, which I will keep very choice. Mr. Emery gave 
 me a mammoth half of one of Mrs. Emery s pies. Thank 
 Mrs. Emery for it. Hope I will see her some time,, then I 
 can thank her myself. 
 
 Sunday, April 3, 1864. Sergt. went to the Maj. to get 
 me to stay with him, but could not get me, so at night S. & 
 C. B. came with me and I came and reported to our Co. 
 Left most of my things with the Sergt. . . . Don t like 
 this place much, but with Page guess I can get along. 93 
 days left. 
 
 Monday, April 4, 1864. Slept last night with Page. 
 Got up in the morning and washed in a mud puddle. 
 Don t think much of this fort or anything around it. 
 
 Tuesday, April 5, 1864. On picket last night and I came 
 near freezing. Sergt. Boardman with us, and we came in at 
 2 o clock. I did enjoy turning in, I tell you. 
 
 Friday, April 8, 1864. . . . Order for 60 men from each 
 Co. on fatigue; good for the veterans, but not for me. Had 
 an infantry drill in the afternoon, the first I have drilled 
 in 6 months. I did not see as I was any greener than the 
 rest of them. 
 
 Saturday, April 9, 1864. On guard, and it is a very 
 wet, stormy day, and I do not feel well at all. Think I 
 should not stand it had I not been out of the Co. so much. 
 Today is my birthday, 20 years today. When I am 20 more 
 I will be quite old, will I not ? 
 
 Tuesday, April 12, 1864. On fatigue as usual, on the 
 
96 DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 roads today. Old guard fired in the afternoon. Had a 
 chat with Maj. Holt. He gave me quite a compliment; 
 said he would rather have me for an Ord. Sergt. than a cer 
 tain one at Tillinghast. So far, so good. 
 
 Thursday, April 14, 1864. The sentence of some of the 
 prisoners read. One fellow got 8 years in the penitentiary; 
 quite a sentence. 
 
 Monday, April 18, 1864. Studied Natural Philosophy 
 as usual. Asked for a pass to Washington. 
 
 "Tuesday, April 19, 1864. On fatigue as usual. . . . 
 George Davis said he would like to go to England with 
 me. If I were not engaged I think I might like to go with 
 him. Studied Philosophy with Hills. 
 
 Wednesday, April 20, 1864. Read the Encyclopaedia, 
 learned some new facts about Philosophy which I was glad 
 to learn. Butter has gone up to 60 cts. That is rough, I 
 think, for a soldier to pay. . . . 
 
 Wednesday, April 27, 1864. Very sudden change in the 
 weather, cold towards morning. Asa is sick, excused by 
 
 the surgeon, post parade. S put in the guard house 
 
 for making a mistake on parade. 
 
 "Thursday, April 28, 1864. E - ran away from the 
 guard. They started for him & some of Shepard s cavalry 
 caught him and brought him back and made a spread 
 eagle of him. Orders came for us to draw our camp and 
 garrison equipage. This looks like moving, sure. 
 
 Saturday, April 30, 1864. Inspection and muster by 
 Col. Tannatt. Rec d Silliman s Philosophy. It is first rate. 
 I am much pleased with it. 
 
 Wednesday, May 4, 1864. Came off guard this morn- 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 97 
 
 ing & slept most all of the forenoon after washing and shav 
 ing. Went on fatigue at 2 P. M. . . . Wrote to Prof. Benj. 
 Silliman, Yale College, New Haven, Conn. ... I like that 
 kind of correspondence better than the silly newspaper gush. 
 
 Friday, May 6, 1864. Battalion drill in the afternoon, 
 2]^ hrs. Pretty hard for the first time. . . . Order from Gen. 
 Meade to his army preparatory to a general movement. 
 
 Saturday, May 7, 1864. News of the terrible battle that 
 is going on in the Army of the Union [Potomac]. How 
 earnestly the eyes of a gratified country are looking to the 
 Army for a good victory, and how sure the soldiers are of 
 doing them justice. 
 
 Sunday, May 8, 1864. Inspected as usual. I am on 
 the tables. Beans poor. . . . Good news from the Army 
 of the Potomac. . . . 
 
 Tuesday, May 10, 1864. Got excused at 6 from guard 
 and went to Ft. Craig for Emery and we went over to the 
 city. Had a very good time. I shall not go again until I 
 am discharged. Sent in my card to Sen. Wilson, asking 
 him for a McClellan report. He sent out one all done up. 
 Wednesday, May 1 1, 1864. Rec d letters from Caro 
 line and Angie. James is sick with the scarlet fever. 
 
 Thursday, May 12, 1864. Rained, not much fatigue in 
 the forenoon. Drilled in the p. M. in a heavy rain. It is 
 great, I think. Got our guns as wet as can be. . . . Page 
 is on picket. I am sorry, but suppose he is good for it. 
 Studied surveying with Hills. Like it first rate. Good news 
 from the Army. 
 
 Friday, May 13, 1864. Rained all day. No drill nor 
 fatigue, only I got detailed in the fort to cap the ammuni- 
 
98 DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 tion. Got through after dark. . . . Good news from the 
 Army. . . . 
 
 Saturday, May 14, 1864. Orders for us to move. I am 
 on guard as usual. Everybody is packed up. I got excused 
 and went down to Ft. Craig and packed up my things, 
 marked them for James and left them in charge of Sergt. 
 Hayes. Wrote to Caroline. . . . We are going now into 
 rough usage, I guess, but let it come. But if we go, I 
 should like to return. 
 
 Sunday, May 15, 1864. We left the fort at 12, took the 
 boat at Alexandria] at 4, ran down to the mouth of the 
 creek and anchored until morning. It rained as hard as it 
 could until we got to A-> and we got as wet as we could. 
 
 Monday, May 16, 1864. Landed at Potomac Creek, 
 marched up on a high hill and pitched our tents. I slept 
 first rate with Page. We got some potatoes and pork and 
 made quite a good supper. . . . Dow is A. A. G. and I am 
 a high private. Some of the boys wrote home. Ain t this 
 a gay romantic life ? 
 
 Tuesday, May 17, 1864. Started from Belle Plain 
 about 7 o clock, marched through Fredericksburg to the 
 Army of the Potomac. It was an awful march, but we stood 
 it first rate. It was rough at first. Slept near the front all 
 alone. Page & Hills are on the color guard. Heard firing, 
 and it looks like hot work. Some of the boys wrote home, 
 but I did not. This is a rough life, and one that I do not 
 like, but I shall stand it like a man. 
 
 Wednesday, May 18, 1864. Slept on the ground, don t 
 know where it was. Did not sleep with Page and felt very 
 cold. Started early in the morning for Hancock s right. 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 99 
 
 Stopped in the valley until about 10. Two shells came over 
 among us and we started for the left. Saw lots of wounded, 
 and s^awthe Drs. cutting them up. Saw one corpse lying in 
 the road. It looks mighty rough. Rained in the P. M. 
 Pitched camp & stopped all night. Slept well. Rained all 
 night; kept dry. I expect an awful battle [was fought?] 
 today. We were in hearing of it all day. 
 
 Thursday, May 19, 1864. Struck our tents about noon, 
 marched on quick time down a hill, then countermarched, 
 lay on a hill, then went down and our battalion went after 
 the Rebs. The fire was awful. I was taking Boardman 
 to the rear. I had to leave him, and I saw the Rebs be 
 hind me. I surrendered. They did not fire, after. I got a 
 horse to ride, and the provost guard took me. I could not 
 wish to be better treated. I slept rough, but was truly 
 thankful for my treatment. Sold my coffee for Conf. scrip. 
 
 Friday, May 20, 1864. Slept on some rails, tough. The 
 guard took me to the prisoners camp. Slept all day. At 
 night I was very much gratified upon the arrival of Rowe 
 & Handy, and we staid up most all night. Rather small 
 rations, but the Rebs give us as good as they can. I will 
 be glad when this cruel war is over, but it must be fought 
 to the bitter end. Saw Gen l Lee. We are treated with 
 great kindness by our captors. I am glad if our time is well 
 spent, both to ourselves, our country, and our God. 
 
 Saturday, May 21, 1864. No rations all day. Marched 
 all day, started early, did not rest nor have anything to 
 eat. It was indeed truly painful. Got to a little brook, 
 piled down on the ground for the night. It was 7 miles 
 from Beaver Dam, and such is the life of a prisoner in 
 
ioo DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 the hands of the Rebels, but "while there is life there is 
 hope." Here we are, Sunday morning, & how good some 
 beans would go, such as we had last Sunday. But the time 
 is not far distant, I hope & trust, when we can reap the 
 rewards of life. 
 
 Sunday, May 22, 1864. Started on our journey early in 
 the morning without anything to eat. They did not march 
 us very hard. Got down to the railroad about 3 o clock, 
 there we waited a long time. The guards were everlast 
 ingly kind to me. The station was on the V. C. R. R., 45 
 miles from R. Went to Gordonsville, got here about 11 
 o clock. Turned in an old barn, got i pint of meal and 2 
 oz. of pork, all we have had since Friday morning, and 
 after marching 35 and riding 40 miles. 
 
 Monday, May 23, 1864. Left Gordonsville about noon. 
 Rode on a platform car to Lynchburg, 90 miles. It was 
 tough, but we stood it. The most we had to eat was cinders 
 from the engine. We got in Lynchburg about 9 o clock, 
 marched about I mile to camp, & turned in with the blue 
 canopy of Heaven for our shelter, as usual. We passed the 
 Blue Ridge. It is a beautiful country, but not well culti 
 vated. I shall be glad when we get to our journey s end, 
 where we can get something to eat. 
 
 Tuesday, May 24, 1864. Stopped at the camp all day. 
 Had a smart shower, which wet us some. Got some rations. 
 I ate quite hearty for a prisoner, and I felt like a new 
 man altogether. I never knew what it was to be hungry 
 before. I was so weak I could hardly stand. Oh how good 
 a good meal would taste, such as I could get at home, 
 but I must not dote on such things now. Some bread for 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 101 
 
 sale in camp for $i a very small loaf. Very high. I did 
 not buy any. Asa Rowe was sick, but is some better. 
 
 Wednesday, May 25, 1864. Stopped as usual at the 
 prisoners camp. This is surely mighty dull. I sleep all 
 day. The boys wrote home by flag of truce. They bring 
 bread down to sell for $i an ounce; rather tough. Some 
 more prisoners arrived. I hope they will start us for Ga. 
 today. Don t I wish I could see Page & Dow? Don t I 
 wish I could stop in some of our New England farmhouses 
 and get a cup of milk ? But never mind, I am looking forth 
 with strong anticipations for our time of exchange; then 
 it will be like a new Heaven for me and my comrades. 
 
 Thursday, May 26, 1864. Just one week today since I 
 was taken prisoner. A strange, eventful week it has been, 
 too. I stayed around camp all day, nothing of importance 
 transpiring. Had a smart shower towards night; wet us 
 some, but we got through it. ... How strange a position 
 we are in here. We are deprived of every solitary comfort of 
 life, excepting thinking. That, no man can deprive us of. 
 How glad [we will be] when we are released. 
 
 Friday, May 27, 1 864. Slept, or lay, very cold last night. 
 Got up very early & cooked our rice. Just got it done when 
 orders came to pack up and be off. Started about 6 o clock 
 from Lynchburg for Danville, packed in some box cars. 
 It is about 150 miles and it took us 24 hours. Got to Dan 
 ville Sat. morning. What a painful night we passed ! No 
 sleep, no place to lie down, nor scarcely to stand. No ra 
 tions, and I think that Jordan is a hard road to travel. 
 
 Saturday, May 28, 1864. Arrived in Danville, went to 
 the prison (a tobacco warehouse). There I slept until most 
 
102 DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 night, then I went and washed, and about 5 o clock we got 
 a splendid ration of boiled ham and corn cake just from 
 the oven. It was beautiful, and I ate very heartily, and 
 felt like a new man altogether. Got another ration at night, 
 of corn cake, and started in the cars for Georgia. Danville 
 is quite a town for the sweet sunny South. I wish we could 
 have stayed there one night, and got rested. 
 
 Sunday, May 29, 1864. After riding all night and until 
 10 o clock the next day, in a little box car, with 66 of us 
 in it, with no sleep nor chance to sleep, we got to Greens 
 boro, N. C., a distance of 48 miles. We came over a new 
 military road. Then we got packed as thick as ever, in a 
 hog car, all manure. Where they will take us to I do not 
 know, but they say "It is good enough for the Yanks!" 
 Rode over the N. C. R. until eight the next morning, when 
 we arrived at Charlotte. We rode at a very swift pace, but 
 not too fast to suit me, for I want to get to my place of des 
 tination. 
 
 Monday, May 30, 1864. Arrived at Charlotte, N. C., 
 about daybreak, where we got 2 days rations, consisting 
 of 7 hardtack and a small lot of bacon. We stopped until 
 the next morning, then we started on the box cars for Au 
 gusta. We slept quite well, got some leaves and put our 
 blankets over us. Such is the life of a prisoner of war. How 
 I wish I was in Boston with Dow, both free men! But 
 never mind, we shall enjoy ourselves so much the better 
 when we do get home. I do think that we shall get 
 exchanged by the 4 th of July. If not, may the Powers 
 help us! 
 
 Tuesday, May 31, 1864. After riding all day and 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 103 
 
 until ii at night we arrived at Columbia, S. C., where we 
 were kept in the cars until morning. Got mighty hungry 
 this time, and we went mighty slow from 6 in the morning 
 until 1 1 at night, going 98 miles. Today is the last day of 
 May, making our time of enlistment very short, but I am 
 very much afraid that our time will not expire then. But 
 how I do long for the time to come when we can be once 
 more men and not beasts. But it is for our Country, and we 
 must be willing to sacrifice the personal for the general 
 good. 
 
 Wednesday, June i, 1864. Got some rations about noon 
 and we were hungry enough to have them taste good. 
 Started about I o clock for Augusta. Met with an accident, 
 two cars ran off the track. The men jumped off, and one 
 of our men was killed, one had both legs broken, and many 
 others were wounded. This is the first railroad accident I 
 was ever in. One of our men was shot through both feet 
 by the accidental discharge of a musket. How sad to think 
 of the poor fellows so far away from home and kindred, 
 to be so suddenly killed or severely wounded ! We got to 
 Augusta about daybreak, where we crossed, I expect, the 
 Savannah River. 
 
 Thursday, June 2, 1864. After staying in Augusta until 
 about 3 P. M. and drawing rations, off we went for Ameri- 
 cus, our destination. We were almost starved when I got 
 6 good loaves of soft bread for a silver half. Gave one to 
 each of us and it tasted good indeed. Then we ate our 
 ration of corn cake, for it was growing stale fast. After 
 getting all of that in us we felt once more something like 
 ourselves. We had a good car and a good place in it and 
 
io 4 DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 rode very well. I should like to hear from Dow and be re 
 leased from durance. 
 
 Friday, June 3, 1864. Arrived at Macon in the morning. 
 It was quite a place. After travelling until noon we ar 
 rived at our camp Winder, Andersonville, Ga., where we 
 were driven in next to the swamp. But Asa [Rowe] & 
 [George] Handy bought a little lot on the hill for $4.50. 
 I was very much pleased, for it is so much healthier. The 
 camp contains about 6 acres. Capt. Wirz commands. 
 Wrote to Caroline * for a box, as did the most of our boys. 
 Wrote to Dow also. I hope the letters will go through, but 
 I am afraid it will be a long time ere we get an answer. 
 O dear me ! 
 
 Saturday, June 4, 1864. It rained most all day & we 
 fared rather tough. Still we managed to live through it. 
 Drew our rations late at night, some peas. Handy bought 
 a rubber blanket for $5, which added much to our com 
 fort. It is sad to see them carry the dead by into the dead 
 house, a continual train of them all the time. How I hope 
 that I shall live through it and be permitted to enjoy the 
 true fruition of my life, which I have put so much confi 
 dence in and placed such bright anticipations upon ! Still, 
 if I die here I am sure that we shall die in a good cause, 
 although in a brutal way. 
 
 Sunday, June 5, 1864. Here we are in the same old pen. 
 We fixed our habitation some and made it somewhat better. 
 But then, O Lord! Hasten our release! Only think, if we 
 
 1 This letter evidently came into our lines without unnecessary delay, 
 as it was postmarked at City Point early in July, but for some unknown 
 reason was not delivered until January, 1865. 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 105 
 
 were at the forts just one short month from today we should 
 be honorably discharged. But how I regret, how I sigh to 
 think of our deplorable condition. Still men have lived 
 through rougher scenes than this, and if I take good care of 
 myself, am very hopeful. But t is sad to see the dead go 
 out, 100 per day. I have been a little ill, the beans gave 
 me a very bad state of the stomach, but I think I shall be 
 better tomorrow. We look to our condition at the forts with 
 as much joy as when there we did for a discharge, and 
 more too. 
 
 Monday, June 6, 1864. The same as usual. Staid in our 
 humble dwelling most of the time. It is such. It is life, 
 and that is all. My stomach felt very much better, and I 
 am very thankful indeed. Asa Rowe is in a bad state, 
 and we are all in a deplorable condition, still I guess that 
 by being very prudent we will all get through it. There are 
 millions of reports in camp relative to parole & exchange. 
 I have come to the conclusion that we will be exchanged 
 when the summer campaign is over, which I hope and 
 trust will be in about three months after my time is out. 
 
 Tuesday, June 7, 1864. Awful hot in the A. M. but we 
 had a very cool shower in the p. M., which would have been 
 very desirable had we had a good shelter. We managed to 
 get a pint of rice for my 40 cts. and it went first rate and 
 made me feel better. We are having good reports from our 
 Army but can t believe any of them. There seem to be 
 no signs for an exchange at all until the summer cam 
 paign is over, and I hope that will end with the downfall 
 of Richmond. My stomach has got regulated once more 
 & I feel encouraged. My whole thoughts are on the joy 
 
io6 DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 we will have when we get in sight of our little starry ban 
 ner. O how I would like to see it once more ! 
 
 Wednesday, June 8, 1864. Stopped as usual in our old 
 shanty. The day was quite oppressive, but toward night it 
 was more salubrious. We drew raw rations and no wood, 
 but by the kindness of Handy we had a little wood. Sold 
 our rations of meat for a pint of rice, which Asa and I ate 
 to grand advantage because it is so easily digested. I made 
 a grand raid and got a big plate of cooked rice which did 
 us "roots" While trying to make the first one we were 
 fired upon by the quartermaster; no one hurt. A new squad 
 of recruits came from Charleston. I am feeling first rate 
 today and begin to feel quite encouraged. All of us are 
 convalescent, I believe. 
 
 Thursday, June 9, 1864. The first sound of humanity 
 reached our ears this morning in an order allowing us to 
 go for wood if we take our oath not to escape. The pre 
 lude was, "Wishing to do all in our power to alleviate the 
 sufferings of prisoner s life." Asa & I ate our rice and as 
 usual it was good. We talked of getting our ration of meat 
 turned into molasses, which we can do by giving $2 a quart 
 for the latter. Drew cooked rations. Learned from a re 
 liable prisoner that Butler is relieved from the exchange 
 commission & Smith is in his place. That is good, the first 
 bright star that we have seen since our imprisonment. 
 Feel first rate but weak. 
 
 Friday, June 10, 1864. Things go on about the same 
 way. Had a small bannock for breakfast. At night we got 
 a little molasses and made some mush. It went first rate 
 and set well. Our squad got raw rations and no wood. We 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 107 
 
 sold our meat and got quite a fund. Molasses is $8 a gallon 
 & butter $4 per pound. Little did I ever think I would 
 pay such prices. Handy, Asa, & I entered partnership. 
 Handy is Treasurer. My principal thoughts and hopes 
 and fears are that my friend Dow will get killed or not be 
 able to fulfill his promises with me. 
 
 Saturday, June 11, 1864. Had quite a rain and with our 
 humble shelter it was no desirable thing. We got $3 worth 
 of molasses in a quart cup and had some bread and mo 
 lasses. Handy dealt it out by the spoonful, and Asa took 
 four, so he owes us a spoonful of molasses. Now we see 
 what makes a thing good. We think as much of a spoonful 
 of molasses here as we would of a gallon at home, and it 
 costs about as much. O how I would like to see some pris 
 oners go home ! It would bring such joy to us. Tongue nor 
 pen can never describe our privations here, nor our joy 
 when we arrive in Wash, free from our enemies. O how bad 
 it seems to be kept here after our time expires ! 
 
 Sunday, June 12, 1864. With Nat s shirt made quite 
 a good addition to our shanty, but there was need enough 
 of it, for we had an awful night of rain. Handy had a rough 
 time. It stormed all night. Had a ration of hot corn bread 
 and we finished our molasses, 8 spoonfuls apiece for $3. 
 We can t stand that. Got $i worth of butter, % of a 
 pound. It went first rate, but at home we would not have 
 looked at it. Great rumors in camp about our parole. O 
 Lord, if they were only true, how joyful we would have 
 been ! But still we know that the time must come some time. 
 How true, if not for hope the heart would break ! 
 
 Monday, June 13, 1864. Came on cold and rainy today. 
 
io8 DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 "When the birds cannot show a dry feather, 
 Bring Aunt with her cans & Marm with her pans 
 And we ll all be unhappy together." 
 This is very applicable to our situation, for it rained all day, 
 and cold it was indeed. At night we almost froze. I never 
 saw such cold weather in the North. You can see our breath 
 as though it was frosty. Had some mush for breakfast, and 
 bread for supper, and crouched down in our old blanket. 
 It is very painful. Still all our happiness in this and in the 
 other world also, is comparative. We see those around 
 wounded & without any shelter, & compared with them 
 we are well off. Rumor says Gen. Winder took command 
 here. Rumor afloat of exchange. 
 
 Tuesday, June 14, 1864. Another very wet day for us. 
 Handy had the shakes. He bought a blanket for $5 and 
 slept quite warm. Got our rations very late. Sold our ham 
 as usual. One of our mess "passed to the Summer Land " 
 last night. They are dying very fast. Grand reports about 
 exchange and parole. Would to God they were true ! I do 
 think that we will not have to stay in here long, it is not 
 just treatment from our Gov. Since this cold weather I 
 feel much better. Corn meal gives me the diarrhoea again. 
 O how glad I shall be when I see the little starry flag 
 again ! 
 
 Wednesday, June 15, 1864. Took off the ring S. B. gave 
 me, put it on again, noo prisoners arrived. Joe Learned 
 and Sam Morrison from our Co. O how sad are the re 
 ports from our regt ! 53 from Co. K. killed, wounded, and 
 missing, in the battle of the iQ th , when we were taken; 
 ii killed, and 814 out of the regt. Gen l Meade issued a 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 109 
 
 congratulatory order to the artillery brigade on the fight of 
 the iQ th of May. O how glad I was to learn that Dow and 
 Page^were all right up to the 2 d of June. I was painfully 
 grieved when they told me that Dow felt very badly when 
 he learned my fate. He came to the Co. and enquired for 
 me of Joe. There is a TRUE friend, & if he will go home 
 in July and wait until I come, it will be the happiest mo 
 ment of my life, and I pray to God that such may be the 
 case. How I hope Dow will get my letter, but I am afraid 
 he will not. [Lucius A.] Wilder went to stop with Learned 
 & M. Got the diarrhoea. 
 
 Thursday, June 1 6, 1864. Another large squad of Yanks 
 came in. Did not see any from our Regt., but learned that 
 ours had been badly cut up while charging the enemy s 
 works on the 3 d of June. I feel for the Regt., and very spe 
 cially for the old members. My stomach is not right yet. 
 Did not eat anything but rice, and had a severe day. Ru 
 mors that 28 transports are on the way for us from Ft. 
 Monroe to Savannah. Felt quite encouraged, but can t quite 
 give it credence. Rained in the afternoon and night. Drew 
 some wood. Handy had his salt and spoon stolen. He has 
 the shakes. O I sigh for liberty! 
 
 Friday, June 17, 1864. The immortal 17 th has arrived, 
 memorable for the battle of Bunker Hill, but it brings no 
 joy for me. All is sadness and sorrow, but I live in hopes 
 of better things, and when they come, Glory ! Rained all 
 day as it has for the past week. My diarrhoea is no better, 
 but it is not very bad, so I am not alarmed about it yet. 
 Lived on rice. How I do want to see and hear from my 
 friends. . . . My thoughts in the day and my dreams in 
 
i io DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 the night are nothing but my liberty, my liberty. Ten 
 thousand times a day do I think of my engagement to go 
 to England. If I can t enjoy life after this, I am not sentient. 
 
 Saturday, June 1 8, 1 864. Another stormy day. Nothing 
 of importance going on. My diarrhoea is some better. Joe 
 L. went to the doctor. The doctor said it was a shame to 
 keep us here so, and so it is truly. Pen nor tongue can never 
 tell the agony of mind that I and some of my party endure. 
 Here we are with no alternative but to crouch under a low 
 blanket and think from morn till night of our deplorable 
 condition, & from night till morn it occupies our dreaming 
 hours. What a recreation any employment for the mind 
 even would be, but all I can think of is, "Fly swifter round, 
 ye wheels of time, & bring the welcome day." 
 
 Sunday, June 19, 1864. June 1 6 th some more of the I st 
 Mass, came in & report that C. Berry was severely wounded. 
 Joe & Sam are quite sick with the diarrhoea, and thus 
 things go. Handy had his salt and bag taken from him by 
 force by the raiders. There is the greatest set of robbers 
 in here I ever imagined could be got together in one place. 
 Another lot of Yanks came in from the Western Army. 
 Handy is quite ill, and we all feel very weak and bad. Still 
 we must try to keep up good spunk. I think one month 
 more will take us to the land of the free. Had quite a fair 
 day, heavy shower in the P. M. Our men divided into squads 
 of 16 [or io ?] much better way. 
 
 Monday, June 20, 1864. . . . The best report yet in the 
 N. Y. Herald that we are to be paroled between the 7 th & 
 17 th of July. I place the most confidence in it of any. I felt 
 the best of any yet, all of us are better. Rained p. M. 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN in 
 
 Tuesday, June 2 1, 1 864. Felt quite smart, stirred around 
 some. The sun was very scorching. ... I took charge of 
 our squad. Sold 15 cts. worth of rations. Apples, plums, 
 cucumbers, etc., have been in camp for several days. One 
 man shot because he accidentally got over the dead-line. 
 Nat is quite sick, the rest of us are getting along well. Re 
 port says that the Negro question is settled. Small squad 
 of Yanks came in from the Occidental Army, Gen l Sturgis. 
 He is the one that had command of us on the Fairfax trot. 
 Every nap we all dream of home. 
 
 Wednesday, June 22, 1864. Strange to say we did not 
 have any rain. The weather is very hot and oppressive. All 
 we got to eat was a pint of unsalted, uncooked mush. O it 
 does seem rough, inhuman, and unjust to keep us here ! If 
 they would only take us back to the place where I first saw 
 the light, the happiest souls on earth we would be ! ... 
 Dreamed last night that James was dead, & I put some 
 confidence in it, but hope it is not so. I can t write more, 
 for I am thinking of things far away. 
 
 Thursday, June 23, 1 864. No rain today. A small squad 
 of recruits came, a lot of H. A. Saw two of our regt s 
 knapsacks, one of Co. K.,No. 26. It looked natural enough. 
 Some of the squads got fresh beef, but it was rough stuff. 
 Had some soup for supper, did not like it. Sold one ration 
 of bread and got some meal. More rumors of an exchange. 
 Wish they were true & think some of them must be. How 
 I would prize life if only once more set free or back at the 
 old fort! O how good those blackberries and sugar, and 
 nice soft bread and butter would go ! How often we think 
 of such things when once deprived of them. When we 
 
ii2 DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 are men once more, we can then appreciate life. Here we 
 are deprived of almost life itself. 
 
 Friday, June 24, 1864. Today my mind wanders back 3 
 years, when at 12 o clock I left Lawrence for Fort Warren. 
 3 years ago today the immortal 14* went into camp. 3 years 
 ago today I left my friends and kindred, mother and James, 
 & more especially my L. friends. My mind still clings to 
 the shady streets of L., and the many fine times I have had 
 there. But now all is different, no joy nor gladness is left. 
 Perhaps too I might refer to my soldier comrades who now 
 lie buried in the cold ground, some even without a covering. 
 How many, alas, have perished since 6 weeks next Sun 
 day. Awful hot. Nothing of importance is going on, the 
 same dull deplorable life. Diarrhoea again. How good a 
 word from friends would be! 
 
 Saturday, June 25, 1864. Very hot, no rain, rations very 
 late. I lived on bread, could not sell my meat. Put some 
 meal to soak for beer. Joe sold his pailful quick. Sam is 
 in poor spirits, but I am getting as well as could be expected. 
 But then, I am almost distracted, for things are dubious 
 here indeed, and all we have to console us is to hope for bet 
 ter things. The seeming joy is great, that I have in thinking 
 of the joy that I will have when I see the Stars & Stripes, for 
 then I soon will see my friends. Orders came to give back 
 the money taken from old prisoners. That is [a] good in 
 dication, but money nor anything can ever compensate us 
 for one week s stop here. 
 
 Sunday, "June 26, 1864. The best move yet. Joe Lear 
 ned came up here, making it much more pleasant for us 
 all. A very small lot of Yanks came in from Sherman s 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 113 
 
 Army. The weather is very hot, & were it not for the 
 hopes of the future our hearts would break. Got mush and 
 meal, .yery good for this accursed land. The letters stopped 
 going, for what reason we know not. No arrivals from 
 Grant s Army for a long time, hope there will be no more 
 from any army. Such living as we get here is heart rend 
 ing. How we would like to step into the Pearl eating- 
 house, cor. Milk St., or Marston s, Brattle St. 
 
 Monday, June 27, 1864. Saw a little of a piece entitled 
 "The Goal of Thought/ by Joseph E. Peck, in the Re 
 pository. Thought the little I saw was beautiful. Nothing 
 of importance going on. Some 1000 Yanks came in. Some 
 brought good news, and some bad. Rumors still fly as 
 regards our exchange. We met with a great loss, it was 
 our knife, & it is very inconvenient to get along cook 
 ing and cutting wood with our fingers. As for eating, 
 we can eat with our fingers first rate now. Joe is quite 
 ague-y. ... I have made my mind up on going home 
 next month, so sure that I feel quite easy, but if next 
 month does not release us, O God, I would I never had 
 been born! 
 
 Tuesday, June 28, 1 864. Had a good shower which made 
 it quite comfortable for a season. A large lot of Yanks 
 came in, about 1000. I am about discouraged. Only think, 
 if we only had staid at the forts, only one short week from 
 today our time would be out, and that long wished for 
 period would have come, and I should have been the hap 
 piest of men. Now I might say I am quite the reverse. 
 Only one week more, oh how good it sounds ! But now the 
 future looks gloomy. Otherwise Dow and I would have 
 
ii 4 DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 been going home together. Now it will be otherwise, and 
 perhaps one of us never will go home. But we will look as 
 well as we can on the dark and gloomy picture. 
 
 Wednesday, June 29, 1864. Quite an excitement about 
 raiders. Took 14 of them out, and the Capt. [Wirz] says he 
 will do what we say with them. But one thing is bad for us 
 - we got no rations, and on as small rations as we get, it 
 is no fun. A great squad of Yanks came in, bringing all 
 sorts of news. I wish some of it was true. Had a good 
 shower. Drew 4 spoonfuls of salt for 15 men ; that s great ! 
 Handy and I got caught in a shower and enjoyed a stranger s 
 hospitality. Was thinking all day, if we were only at the 
 forts, the order would be read today for the inspection and 
 muster tomorrow. How I looked [forward] last muster, to 
 tomorrow s. Oh ! How I doted upon it ! But my hopes are 
 vanished, & I am sad. If I were only out of this I would 
 give all the money I ever saw. 
 
 Thursday, June 30, 1864. Not as hot as usual, cloudy, 
 no rain. Did not get anything but a little mush and meal for 
 2 days. It is rough, it is bad, and to me it is almost unsup- 
 portable. How rough it is to serve our Country through so 
 many privations for 3 long years, then, instead of going to 
 that longed-for home of joy & happiness, be put in this pen 
 of insatiate misery, without one consoling thought even. If 
 anybody was ever miserable, I am since coming here. Only 
 5 days more, then I was expecting to enjoy life as hugely as 
 any man could. Got out lots of raiders and tried them by 
 court-martial. 
 
 Friday, July I, 1864. O dear! Ain t this a tough life ? 
 July has come, & instead of bringing its anticipated joys, 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 115 
 
 woes as intense have followed it. But why keep sighing ? 
 Because I can t help it. 
 
 Moyed in the new stockade, and are some better situated 
 because the pen is a little larger. From 49 to 98 detach 
 ments moved. I made some mush for supper, put the meal 
 in before the water boiled & it raised fits with me. Had 
 some fresh made for tomorrow s breakfast. Bought a 
 spoonful of w. sugar for 25 0. Lost the comb that belonged 
 to John. Was very sorry indeed. 
 
 Saturday, July 2, 1864. Here we are at this late day still 
 living on corn meal and water. Handy had a chill again. 
 . . . H., L., & I have got a bad diarrhoea again, making 
 us feel quite blue. Made a broth out of a bone, & had some 
 fresh meat, but I, nor any one else, could live on the rations, 
 & in the pen. More rumors of an exchange. O dear, O 
 dear, were they only true! I am thinking of the time I 
 would be now having on my way home, were I in the forts 
 where I expected to be. How true we know not what an 
 hour may bring forth ! But one thing [is certain], this can t 
 always last, and when it ends I 11 make it up. 
 
 Sunday, July 3, 1864. Only think, tomorrow is the im 
 mortal 4 th . If I were only in Boston my joy would be un 
 speakable. I can t imagine the joy if Dow and I were there, 
 free and accepted, in all things as well as Masonry. There is 
 no difference here, one day from another, and I played a 
 game of cards, not thinking it was the day it is. My bowels 
 are bad yet. The guard killed a crazy man for getting over 
 the dead-line. Had two roll-calls and no rations at all. 
 My stars, what a fuss there would have been at the forts, 
 if we had gone day after day with no rations ! But here 
 
ii6 DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 we stand anything. What shall I write tomorrow, and 
 the 5* ? 
 
 Monday,July^i^6^.. This has been a curious 4 th to me, 
 and it has to us all, I guess. Not a sign of any celebration, 
 but no rations. They took the detachments off and changed 
 ours to the 5 I st . More rumors of an exchange. Would to 
 God they were true! Had a smart shower, got all wet. 
 Got cold in the night and had a touch of ague. This is my 
 4 th Fourth of July in the Army. 3 years ago today I was 
 on guard for the first time at Fort Warren & saw the fire 
 works at Boston. One year [ago] today we had a good din 
 ner and time in the tent at Fort Albany. I came out of the 
 G. H. for seeing Dow 2 yrs (ago) today. I was with Dow 
 at Albany, went off berrying with him. Thus time has 
 passed with me. O dear, I am discouraged! 
 
 Tuesday^ uly $, 1864. O for the Promethean eloquence 
 of Demosthenes or Cicero ! Today is the day longed for by 
 me so ardently for the two long years that s past, and in 
 deed it would have been to me a second Advent. But now 
 it brings us no consolation or joy, for it does not send us to 
 our friends at home. How long must we stay here ? None 
 but the functionaries at Washington can tell. But why be 
 forever sorrowing because I cannot find joy ? My faith in 
 rumors is played out, for they say that Richmond is taken. 
 I felt very badly with the headache and diarrhoea, but 
 think I am better. Rowe is very sick with it. I went to 
 see the doctor, but there was none. Fixed the tent, so it 
 goes very well. O the friends I love ! 
 
 Wednesday,July 6, 1864. Here I am a citizen, & a sad 
 position it is for me ; but I must cheer up or the despond- 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 117 
 
 ency will bring disease. Joe went after the rations & was 
 taken very sick, but got better before night. This is the 
 roughest pen that ever civilized man was put in. Here all 
 is bestial, just like a hog pen, & hogs we must be, for like 
 hogs we live, like hogs we act. Once in a while a good 
 soul shines like a beacon-light ahead. Would not I like to 
 be on my way home now with Dow ? I guess yes. It would 
 be the most intense joy I can think of or imagine. But I 
 will be with him soon, I hope. 
 
 Thursday, July 7, 1864. Today is the day for us to start 
 for home, & it was as I feared, no go. Can t place one bit 
 of confidence in rumors & never shall again while in here. 
 I have now made up my mind to stop until Richmond is 
 captured, & then I think something will be done for us. 
 I have got a very bad cold and a touch of the dumb ague, 
 making this prison life not very pleasant. I dreamed last 
 night of being paroled and seeing Dow, and the disap 
 pointment when I awoke & found myself still in Hell ! - 
 I have given up all hopes of hearing from home, likewise of 
 their hearing from me. But while there is life there is hope, 
 and that consoles me. 
 
 Friday, July 8, 1864. One year ago we were in first rate 
 quarters in the tents at Albany, and we had as good living 
 as we cared about. The blackberries and sugar never gave 
 out, and we used to eat about a quart apiece. Morning, 
 night, & at dinner we had a good meal from the cook 
 house. Three times a week we had plum-duff. My tent 
 had a nice cool cellar, & we had a large stone jar which we 
 kept full of good butter. Then we had a pint of milk morn 
 ing and evening in our coffee, making it like home, it seems 
 
n8 DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 now. H. had a shake, got over it well. I was quite sick 
 with the cold I have. A few prisoners came, no signs of any 
 going out. I think now of staying until cool weather. 
 
 Saturday, July 9, 1864. Sad, sad news from our Co. & 
 Regt. A lot of prisoners came in, & with them that good 
 man, Mr. M. Emery of Co. F. He is not well. I am glad 
 and sorry to see him. He is the most congenial friend I 
 have in here yet. I learn that Page is slightly wounded, but 
 ail right and safe. Bro. Dow slightly [wounded] in the foot. 
 Dow still keeps in the field. I wish he would go home! 
 Some of our Co. are on the way here. McKay is Ord. of 
 our Co., & there are but 12 or 15 for duty. Cop. Collins 
 is dead, and one of the Hunters, & O, I sadly deplore the 
 surviving one s fate ! I will not write much until our boys 
 come in. 30 of F. were captured. After hearing of the Co. s 
 fate I don t know but I am in luck. I am glad to hear that 
 Page is safe, & I think Dow will now be out of danger. 
 
 Sunday, July 10, 1864. Today, sad news indeed I must 
 record. I learn by Bridges that Bro. Asa was shot through 
 the heart while charging the breastworks at Petersburg, 
 June 1 6, 1864. B. got to him just in season to stop some 
 officers robbing his pockets. B. took his pocket-book con 
 taining $14.62 & a few stamps, and his Bible, and gave 
 them to the Chaplain. That is consoling. Copl. Wm. Hills 
 died with the diarrhoea. He was a good boy, and a friend 
 to me. It is sad, it is sad, but I still have faith in my belief, 
 & find relief therein. ... I am mighty glad to learn that 
 Dow has gone home & knows where I am. 
 
 Monday, July 1 1, 1864. Today I saw six victims hung 
 for murdering their fellow-prisoners. They are the first ones 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 119 
 
 I ever saw hung. They call them raiders. One rope broke. 
 Mr. Emery stayed here in the daytime, & picked up where 
 he could at night. Fry, the two Sheehans, Wiggin, Bridges, 
 Voigt & Jackson from our regt. came in yesterday. More 
 rumors of an exchange on the i6 th inst. O if it were true ! 
 A man said he saw it in the Wash. Chronicle. How I want 
 to get home and see my folks while I have some to see! 
 Now Asa is gone, if James has not survived, I am left alone. 
 But I think James lived if he had care. 
 
 Tuesday, July 12, 1864. One day more has passed, 
 thank God, and it must bring us nearer the Welcome Day. 
 More of our reg t. came in ; lots from Co. F. Emery got in 
 with a stranger. I am very glad of it. Well, if things go right, 
 & I don t fear much but they will, I shall consider myself 
 very lucky. To have things go right, I shall get out of here 
 this, or early next month, find Dow all right waiting for me, 
 & then, after settling the things at home, I will start on our 
 life s journey. How I long for liberty ! How sick I am of 
 corn meal ! O ! how good it would seem even now to go to 
 some good swill-pail and fill ourselves ! I wait in hopes. 
 
 Wednesday, July 13, 1864. One more day has gone & 
 brings us no relief. Still, if we live, Time must bring the 
 welcome day. It will bring us out of the miry pit & set 
 our feet upon a rock, & then what happy mortals we will 
 be ! But we are waiting, patiently waiting, waiting for the 
 prison gates to be opened & for Abraham to say, "Come." 
 Then will we bless our stars and return to our beloved 
 friends at home. What a glorious meeting it will be ! How 
 I would like to meet Dow in the Astor House or in Boston ! 
 God grant that things will work for our good & that we 
 
120 DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 may be permitted to spend the life of pleasure and enjoy 
 ment together that we have doted on so much f 
 
 Thursday ,July 14, 1864. Not so hot as usual, but things 
 go bad. As for exchange or parole, I am about played out 
 hoping for such a thing. The Sergt s went to see the Capt. 
 [Wirz], and he told them he would shell us till not a man was 
 left if any attempt was made to break out. O dear, has Dow 
 patience to wait for me ? If I have patience to wait in this 
 pen, I think he ought to have. But I am waiting, waiting, 
 waiting, with patience. Emery is better. I am glad of it. 
 I am not very sick, nor very well yet. I have continually 
 had the diarrhoea, & for the last few weeks I have had a 
 bad cold, making me not very chipper. O God ! Deliver us 
 from this prison ! 
 
 Friday, July 1 5, 1 864. Saw a petition they are getting up 
 to send to our Gov. I hope they will send it, for it cannot do 
 harm, & if it will do good, for the sake of humanity send it 
 along. I am not very well and never shall be while they 
 keep me in here. I do think that this is not fair for us to be 
 kept here. It is unjust, for the sake of humanity, or Chris 
 tianity, or anything that pretends to be civilized and much 
 more Enlightened. O do not boast of your enlightened age ! 
 Away, away, while such suffering and misery are going on ! 
 This, this is shameful it is disgraceful & here let it 
 rest. The weather is quite cool & all goes wrong, but 
 Time must release us, and that is all I look for to do any 
 thing for us. 
 
 Saturday, July 16, 1864. Did not write till near night, 
 for I felt very badly. Went to the Dr. & he did not see me, 
 for Joe could not wait for me. I am about discouraged. O 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 121 
 
 dear, I am so sick of this corn meal ! The sight of it makes 
 me sick. O how I would prize some good bread and milk ! 
 What a thrill of feeling it would send through my whole 
 being ! 
 
 [Note. Up to this time, every page of the diary has been 
 filled to the last line. Nearly half of the page devoted to 
 July 1 6 has been left unwritten upon, and very little ap 
 pears upon the pages for the seven days next following.] 
 
 Sunday, July 17, 1864. Went to the Doctor. He pre 
 scribed some diarrhoea & cough medicine, but the cough 
 medicine got spilled, so it did me no good, no good. I am in 
 a bad condition, nothing but water passes me, & no appetite 
 for anything we see here at all. This corn meal is awful 
 sickening. It is too bad, too bad, but such is the case. O 
 God ! The man that will take me out of this I will call him 
 " Prince of Kings & Lord of Lords." He to me will be a 
 true Redeemer, I think, in every sense of the word. 
 
 Monday, July 1 8, 1864. Lay on my back in the tent in 
 the dirt all day, pretty sick. This is hard, indeed, but 
 I don t see but what we must stand it. How I wish Dow 
 would come down to see me as he did at Albany when he 
 heard I was sick. But if I only live to see it through, I think 
 it will be all right. The weather is quite cool today, with 
 some rain. 
 
 "Tuesday, July 19, 1864. Felt quite blue. My stomach is 
 no better, but I got a biscuit for breakfast, and some flour 
 gruel for breakfast and supper. It did no good, only tempo 
 rarily. Mr. Emery sold my meat for 20 0. Good news from 
 Sherman, & I am satisfied that Kilpatrick is on a raid for 
 us & I put a great deal of confidence [Here a wavering 
 
122 DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 mark indicates that the writer s hand lost control of his 
 pencil.] 
 
 Wednesday, July 20, 1864. I felt some Better, but not 
 quite well. The rebels are throwing up breast-works as 
 fast as they 
 
 Thursday, July 21, 1864. Felt some better, but nothing 
 but water passes me yet. 
 
 Friday, July 22, 1864. Here we are, still in the same 
 place. . . . Did not eat much. 
 
 Saturday, July 23, 1864. Lay very cold. The weather 
 looks like the melancholy days, & it puts me in mind of Fall, 
 & that it was time something was done for us. A man in 
 Co. F. died today. Drew 4 spoonfuls of rice. 
 
 Sunday, July 24, 1864. Well, here we are, but I am feel 
 ing better and am therefore in some better spirits. It is ru 
 mored that Atlanta is taken, and I guess it is. Grant seems 
 not to be doing much & we are still here. The weather is so 
 cold that we come near freezing, but it makes us feel better. 
 It gives me an appetite for a good hot breakfast. But every 
 day brings us one day nearer our release. I do hope we will 
 not be forgotten, for our Gov., I think, after this campaign 
 is over, will turn an eye towards us. Joe Hayden, Co. M., is 
 sick, Emery is worse, and thus things go, but I am sure that 
 the best of all is to keep a stiff upper lip. 
 
 Monday, July 2 $, 1864. Felt better and am encouraged. 
 Think I shall stand it, but it is rough indeed. Emery is get 
 ting worse, and Handy too. The weather is some warmer 
 and we did not freeze at night. A fellow in Co. G. died at 8 
 this evening through mere discouragement. That heart- 
 sickness, only known to the young men like us, can never 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 123 
 
 be imagined until it has been endured. I am afraid there 
 is a long stop for us in here, too. I see no signs of getting 
 out of it, & it is heart-rending indeed, but here I am. I 
 got my turn for water today for the first time. We have 
 drawn [no] rice for two days, & no salt. That is tough. 
 
 Tuesday, July 26, 1864. Emery sent in an application 
 for himself to go out shoemaking, and also for me. I do hope 
 we shall both be successful and get where we can enjoy life a 
 little. Another fellow in our detachment died, and thus 
 things go. I consider [that] as my time is out and my con 
 tract fulfilled, it is the duty of the Gov. to release me, and if 
 they don t do something for me, I must try and do some 
 thing for myself. If I can get out on parole of honor, I shall 
 do it, & shall think it no harm. I wish I could ask Dow s 
 opinion on it. I would abide by that. 
 
 Wednesday 9 July 27, 1864. Ate some fried doughnuts for 
 breakfast, & it made me sick enough. In the afternoon I 
 had an old visitor in the shape of a chill. How I thought of 
 Page, for I have seen him the sickest with the shakes of any 
 man I ever saw. This is a rough place for such things, & 
 they are bad enough anywhere. Emery & I had a wash all 
 over, and it did feel good and do us good. I hope we will be 
 fortunate enough to get up to Macon. O how glorious it 
 would seem, and how glorious it would be ! ... A man 
 [was] shot dead for stepping over the dead-line. I call 
 that murder. 
 
 Thursday, July 28, 1864. I felt very well indeed, but a 
 little weak. Nothing of importance has transpired. Joe is 
 a little ailing, but guess [it is] nothing serious. Emery is the 
 same. I am very sorry he does not gain. Hope he will get 
 
i2 4 DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 out to work on shoes, and do something for himself, for I do 
 consider it his duty to. I wish I could do something outside. 
 How quick I would go, and should do it conscientiously too, 
 for I have fulfilled my contract with the government by 
 serving them faithfully for three years. 
 
 Friday, July 29, 1864. Today instead of having a chill, 
 I had a very curious disease. I was paralyzed and could not 
 move, & in great agony for a while. I think it is very strange, 
 . . . but it prevented a chill. I got a little salt for Emery. 
 Neeley cut my hair, & I washed all over. I traded four 
 rations of pork for molasses and got quite a supper. 
 
 Saturday, July 30, 1864. I felt first-rate in the morning, 
 but in the afternoon I got down flat again, and no one to get 
 the water. Handy went after some and got down too. I 
 traded Holt s canteen for a bucket that holds four quarts. 
 I hope that we can manage not to suffer now, but suppose 
 that it will be as hard as ever. Good stories about a parole, 
 and I think some of them are true. I sadly regret that I did 
 not join the F. & A. M. when I thought of it. 
 
 Sunday, July 31, 1864. I am sorry to find Emery in so 
 bad a condition. If he does not get better soon he never 
 will. Good news about an exchange I am putting some 
 confidence in it, too. I felt well in the morning, but in the 
 afternoon I had another of those cursed shakes. How painful 
 it must be, those can imagine that have had them. I thought 
 of Dow, I can assure you, and Page and every friend I ever 
 had. Can t get any medicine, & I must stand and bear it. 
 I am in hopes of a speedy release now. 
 
 Monday, Aug. I, 1864. Did not feel very well in the 
 morning, & was favored with a good shake in the afternoon. 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 125 
 
 Went down and washed in the morning, & got my water. 
 A rebel minister was preaching & said we would be 
 paroled immediately. 
 
 Tuesday, Aug. 2, 1864. Had another chill as usual, but 
 it was not so hard as usual, but hard enough to make me 
 think of my friends if I ever had any. ... I often think 
 of what I now call the friends of Co. K., and I now look 
 back to those happy times of social talk &c. Our quarters 
 were good, and food, with what we could buy, was good. 
 The stories say we are not to stay here long, & if the Devil 
 will get me out of this I will worship him, for I am discour 
 aged. . . . 
 
 Wednesday, Aug. 3, 1864. Did not have a chill or shake 
 this afternoon and felt quite encouraged. I am afraid that 
 I am ill with the scurvy. Went to see the doctors, but did 
 not [see them.] What a crowd of sick ! They take them to 
 the depot, and where they take them is a mystery. They 
 say they take them to Hilton Head, S. C. I am glad if it is 
 so, but I [distrust] such good news. Emery is very ill. I 
 cooked him some rice, but he could not use it. He has not 
 eaten anything to-day. I long to see my folks. 
 
 Thursday, Aug. 4, 1864. Made some [An illegible word 
 or part of a word follows, perhaps "rice," -and the 
 rest of the page is blank. The pages for Friday and Sat 
 urday are wholly blank.J 
 
 Sunday, Aug. 7, 1864. I have been very sick with the 
 diarrhoea again, all of a sudden. I was called up 30 times 
 in 24 hours. Rather tough, that, but I am glad to say that 
 I ate some corn-bread and it went very well, & I think the 
 change was good. Have not seen Emery for a day or two. 
 
126 DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 No sick went out today. Gen. W. had telegraphic orders 
 for an exchange of us. Only think, three years ago today 
 at 9 o clock we left Fort Warren. Uncle John followed us 
 to the depot, and at twelve we started. Then we (John & I) 
 were in good spirits. Now he has gone, and I am about as 
 badly off. 
 
 Monday, August 8, 1864. Felt bad in the morning. 
 Bridges made me a lot of rice soup and of course ate what 
 I left. Had rain in the afternoon and we got pretty wet. 
 I sold 2 rations of pork to a F. & A. M. for 20 0. Was glad 
 to get the chance. I wish I was an honorable member of that 
 F., but such is not the case. O how I want to get out from 
 here ! Here I lie and wallow in the dirt from morning till 
 night. O God, if I could only get inside our lines how happy 
 I should be! We drew wood. I gave up my mess when I 
 was sick. Rumors of an exchange. Am afraid it [will be] 
 long ere I see my home. 
 
 Tuesday, August 9, 1864. Had an awful shower in the 
 afternoon and we all got very wet, and a rough night we 
 had too, in the mud and dirt. O dear, if such is life, I wish 
 for it no more ! Emery is very badly off and will not live 
 but a short time, I am afraid. I do wish I could do some 
 thing for him, but can t. My feet and face swell some, and 
 what in the world is going to become of us is more than I 
 know. Did not draw any ration. Some of the stockade 
 fell in. How are you, Dow, Page, sisters, and my only 
 brother ? 
 
 Wednesday, August 10, 1864. Asa Rowe died this after 
 noon, and was carried out and buried with the rest of the 
 poor prisoners. I am sorry that he must so end his life, but 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 127 
 
 it was so ordered to be. ... I heard that Emery is dead, 
 and am sorry if such is the case. I shall go in the morning 
 to see him, and as I am feeling better I will try to take care 
 of him some. We have had showers every day for three 
 days, & awful bad it is too, but such is the prisoner s life. 
 O I heard from the W. Chronicle that we are go 
 
 Thursday, August II, 1864. Felt quite well for me here. 
 Went after water in the morning and was most exhausted. 
 Found Emery quite smart to what I expected, for I heard 
 that he was dead. I concluded to try and take care of him. 
 Cooked him some rice and it tasted good to him. In the 
 afternoon a shower was coming on, & up he came and 
 asked for shelter, which we gave him. He was in good cheer 
 and I felt encouraged. He stayed here all the time, but did 
 not sleep much. The weather was very hot and op 
 pressive. I felt very well for me. O when will we get out 
 of this ? I want to see my friends. 
 
 Friday, August 12, 1864. Made some rice soup for 
 Emery, which he ate and liked, but he seemed to be worse 
 after it, and he lay quiet until afternoon, when he was taken 
 worse and was pressed for breath. He ate no supper, and 
 continued to fail. I was very sick all night, vomiting. I 
 asked him towards morning if he felt as though he could 
 stand it long. He said "No." I asked him if he had any 
 word to send to his folks. He said "No," and I left him. 
 Things go the same as ever, no parole yet, and all our 
 comfort is in Hope. How I long, long, long to see our 
 lines ! 
 
 Saturday, August 13, 1864. Found Emery worse. Laid 
 him on his coat and saw he was dying. He passed to the 
 
i 2 8 DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 Higher Life about seven o clock and was carried out and 
 buried with the rest of the Union prisoners. I was very 
 sorry to see so good a man die in here. He was a firm friend, 
 and would do anything for me, and I look for him in the 
 bright Summer Land. I shall go to see his folks when I get 
 home, and tell them the story. I am better, but God send 
 us out of this Hell ! 
 
 Sunday, August 14, 1864. Things are very quiet. They 
 say we are going out of this tomorrow. I can t see it. I 
 made an agreement with Charles Mills, Co. C., that if we 
 can get to the American House next month I will pay for 
 the dinner, and if any time after, he will pay for it. How I 
 long for that American House dinner ! I will have it right 
 straight through in style. Had some beans with no salt, 
 rather rough. How I long for something but corn meal to 
 eat! 
 
 Monday, August 15, 1864. Today is the day for us to be 
 paroled, but no signs of it yet, & my faith is growing less. 
 It does seem as though we could not stand it much longer, 
 but I am bound to try my best to live until I can get out of 
 this bull-pen, for I want to see my folks at home. I have 
 set out so much joy for me that I am sorry to die here, or 
 stay here longer. Fairman died this morning. Last even 
 ing he was quite smart. I never saw men slip off so easy as 
 they do here. They die as easy as, as can be. 
 
 [Note. Eleven pages of the diary, devoted to as many 
 days, are now left wholly unwritten upon.] 
 
 Saturday, August 27, 1864. This is a cool, beautiful 
 morning. As Handy is very sick and probably won t sur 
 vive long, there is another good man going to die in this 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 129 
 
 horrid place. He says he would like to live and go home to 
 his family, and who would not ? August has almost passed 
 and npt released us, still I am confident that next month 
 must do something for us, for I am satisfied that the officers 
 are paroled, & lots of the privates. ... I long to see my 
 folks. 
 
 Sunday, August 28, 1864. [Blank.] 
 
 Monday , August 29, 1864. Today at half past seven in 
 the evening, passed George Handy to the Spirit Life. He was 
 another one of my true friends, and always stood up for me. 
 He, like Mr. Emery, leaves a wife and four children. He 
 owned two blankets in the shanty. He was one of Dow s 
 men, whose word was a bond. I don t write now, for this 
 bull pen tells its own story. 
 
 [The pages for the next three days are blank.] 
 
 Friday, Sept. 2, 1864. Today I have another sad duty 
 to perform, and that is to record the death of Friend Jonas 
 Learned. He was sick only since last Wednesday with the 
 sore throat, but they say it is not diphtheria, and for the life 
 of me I do not know what it was. He died very easy, said 
 nothing of his friends, and was but a little out of his head 
 during his whole sickness. I took his things, and will see 
 them safe with his folks, in Oxford, N. Y. Perhaps I would 
 not like to see my folks ! 
 
 Saturday, Sept. 3, 1864. Today passed another friend, 
 (I speak as an acquaintance) Charles H. Parrish, Co. C., 
 died this morning at four o clock. He is from Lynn. We 
 fixed our tent all over and it is much better. I think we are 
 going out this month sure, and joy to the world when we 
 are released ! How I would like to see Dow and my folks. If 
 
130 DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 they get us out of this this month I am good for them, but 
 if they keep us longer, I fear for myself. Joe L. died about 
 12, yesterday. 
 
 Sunday, Sept. 4, 1864. Today I did more trading than 
 I have since I have been in the stockade. After all the morn 
 ing, I sold Emery s shoes for $i, then travelled all day & 
 at last got hold of a very cheap one [ ? ] & got it for 65 cts ; 
 it was worth $i. Got some vinegar and a pepper & made 
 me what I have always craved. Got our beans in the 
 morning and I ate hearty. Nat Brindley went to the hos 
 pital with the shakes, etc. 
 
 Monday, Sept. 5, 1864. I have not been so hungry since 
 I have been in the bull pen. Nothing for breakfast but a 
 paltry plate of beans, & rations very late. I was so hungry 
 as to be faint and weak. I went down to the ration team 
 and got a handful of rice, and blistered my finger. We got a 
 good radon of molasses, 15 spoonfuls. I ate all my rations 
 for supper & have not a thing for breakfast tomorrow. I 
 think this is big, not half enough to eat. When I get to 
 London with Dow I guess we won t starve like this ! 
 
 Tuesday, Sept. 6, 1864. [Blank.] 
 
 Wednesday, Sept. 7, 1864. Today I have felt quite elated, 
 for 1 6 detachments have left this bull pen, & everybody 
 says, & I expect, they are going for an exchange. But still 
 I can t realize [it], until I see the little starry banner once 
 more. Today I met with an accident that I was awful sorry 
 for. I never felt so bad about anything. I lost my pocket 
 book with my gold pen in it, that I prized, for Dow, Page, & 
 I had used it for two years, a lock of John s hair, and some 
 pretty pictures that Dow made. I want Dow to make me a 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 131 
 
 present of one when I see him, which I hope will be in two 
 weeks. 
 
 Thursday, Sept. 8, 1864. [Blank.] 
 
 Friday, Sept. 9, 1864. Not a great many detachments 
 went out today, yet they are taking them just as fast as they 
 can find cars. It does look good, and still I can t fully 
 realize it. No, I can t, when I get to our lines. It will be 
 such a transition from Hell to Heaven that it will take a 
 long time to realize our situation. I have not felt very well 
 for a day. O dear, I would not be left here for $500. Money 
 could never tempt me; no, not at all. In one week I hope 
 to see the Stars & Stripes. 
 
 Saturday, Sept. 10, 1864. Things are still very lively at 
 night; they took out lots of Yanks. How I like to hear the 
 old cars roll, for it portends a great deal. Holt has got a 
 sore throat. I am afraid it may be bad. How I long for the 
 Stars & Stripes ! How I long to meet Dow ! How I have 
 missed him since I lost him, & how I will appreciate him 
 when I find him ! I shall abide by his wise counsel. My 
 sisters and friends will not be forgotten either. I long for 
 sister Mary s, for the fruit, and wholesome living. 
 
 Sunday, Sept. 1 1, 1864. Things went about so-so. Holt s 
 throat is worse. I am sorry for him. We are going to move 
 down on the brow of the hill tomorrow; it will be much 
 better for us. Lots of Yanks are still going out. Good ! I 
 like to see them go. How I want to see the old transports & 
 Uncle Sam s hard-tack! I think the show is good for us to 
 go soon. How encouraged I am to think the time is so near ! 
 If I ever get on free soil, I bet I will keep there forever ! 
 
 Monday, Sept. 12, 1864. Today I have the saddest to 
 
132 DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 
 
 record. Poor E. K. Holt s throat grew worse, and he could 
 not eat anything, and towards night he was sensible that 
 he could not live. He died about dusk, very hard indeed, 
 choked to death. About an hour before he died he told me, 
 if he did not live till morning, to carry his Bible to his father 
 & tell him that he had read it through once, the New 
 [Testament] twice, and the whole most through again, 
 and give his love to his sisters and mother. Got orders 
 to be over to the gate immediately, for an exchange. Went 
 over double-quick, forgot all my things, and lay there till 
 morning. 
 
 Tuesday, Sept. 13, 1864. Lay all day in the bull pen, & 
 at night the Serg t. got us off in the first squad. He took 
 me & Wilder & Nat, went to the depot, got two days 
 [rations] of corn & pork, & started for, I suppose, our 
 lines. Got about 4 miles when the train ran off and we had 
 a bad smash-up. My car was badly broken, but the Powers 
 that Be saved me. We stopped till morn on the bank, 
 when after much fuss, we were taken to the bull pen. In 
 the night I was taken very sick with the diarrhoea, & 
 weakened down to nothing so that 
 
 Wednesday, Sept. 14, 1864. This morn I could hardly 
 stand. Wilder carried my things for me, and by the help of a 
 cane I got along a few rods. Got down to the depot, and 
 could not walk. Got an ambulance and took me to the hos 
 pital. It is an awful nasty, lousy place, and I am disgusted. 
 My diar. is very bad and will soon carry me off, if it is not 
 checked, I am afraid. It is too bad, for I should hate to have 
 my anticipations fail now, for they are so near their termi 
 nation or beginning. 
 
DIARY OF SAMUEL MELVIN 133 
 
 Thursday , Sept. 1 5, i 864. Lay on my back all day. Eat 
 not much, can t eat much; the corn bread I hate, & the 
 rice I can t, for it goes directly through me. I have seen no 
 doctors yet. The steward is a good fellow. I am lying in a 
 tent on my rubber blanket, with an old Irishman next to me. 
 Can t make him hear anything. He is most dead with the 
 diar. The next is a Dutchman, most dead with scurvy. And 
 then the tent and blankets are just as full of lice and fleas 
 as ever can be. As things look now, I stand a good chance 
 to lay my bones in old Ga., but I d hate to as bad as one 
 can, for I want to go home. 
 
 [This is the last entry in the diary, though the writer s 
 strong vitality endured until September 25. He is buried 
 at Andersonville in grave number 9735.] 
 
APPENDIX 
 
APPENDIX A 
 
 THE NAMES OF THOSE PRESENT AT THE 
 EXERCISES OF DEDICATION AND REMINIS 
 CENCE ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY BY 
 COMPANIES 
 
 COMPANY A 
 GEORGE H. BOYD, HOLDEN; LUTHER WAIT, IPSWICH. 
 
 COMPANY B 
 
 WILLIAM ALLEN, METHUEN; JOSEPH ARNOLD, BOSTON; 
 J. PAYSON BRADLEY, BOSTON; JOSEPH E. BUSWELL, 
 METHUEN; ALBERT L. DAME, SOUTH HANSON; WILLIAM 
 R. GRIFFIN, BROCKTON ; JOHN LAHEY, STONEHAM ; SIDNEY 
 POORE, METHUEN; J. HENRY REYNOLDS, LAWRENCE; 
 HENRY C. RICHARDSON, WOBURN; CHARLES M. SAWYER, 
 METHUEN; RUFUS M. TURPLE, EAST WEYMOUTH. 
 
 COMPANY C 
 
 JOSEPH W. BRAY, GLOUCESTER; HENRY R. DALTON, 
 BOSTON; HOWARD P. GARDNER, MARBLEHEAD; HENRY 
 M. HAWKINS, DORCHESTER; HORACE PARKER, LYNN; 
 MARCUS M. POOL, RANDOLPH. 
 
138 APPENDIX 
 
 COMPANY D 
 
 WM. H. BURCHSTEAD, BEVERLY; SAMUEL M. DALTON, 
 
 PEABODY; FRANK E. FARNHAM, PEABODY; GEORGE P. 
 FERGUSON, SALEM; JOHN C. FOOTE, PEABODY; ISAAC 
 E. FRYE, DANVERS; CHARLES H. MASURY, DANVERS; 
 GEORGE P. MELCHER, SALEM; BENJAMIN C. NICHOLS, 
 SALEM; GEORGE F. PERKINS, SALEM; CHARLES A. POTTER, 
 SALEM. 
 
 COMPANY E 
 
 WILLIAM E. W. HAMILTON, MARLBOROUGH; CHARLES H. 
 SHAW, CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 COMPANY F 
 
 GEORGE S. GIBSON, CLINTON; EDSON F. HODGE, MIL- 
 FORD; GEORGE W. LEWIS, MELROSE HIGHLANDS; WIL 
 LIAM M. LUNT, GROTON; WILLIAM SHARROCK, LAW 
 RENCE; HENRY SMITH, PORTSMOUTH, N. H. ; JOHN SMITH, 
 LAWRENCE; THOMAS V. THORNTON, RIVERSIDE, R. I. 
 
 COMPANY G 
 
 ALONZO D. BUXTON, SALEM; NATHAN B. M. INGALLS, 
 LYNN; FRANK McGEE, MARBLEHEAD; JOHN H. PUR- 
 BECK, SALEM; PETER D. SMITH, ANDOVER; JOHN I. 
 TUCKER, MARBLEHEAD. 
 
 COMPANY H 
 
 GEORGE B. CLARK, SOMERVILLE; ALBERT GOLDSMITH, 
 LAWRENCE; LEWIS G. HOLT, LAWRENCE; WYMAN D. 
 
APPENDIX 139 
 
 HUSSEY, LOWELL; E. KENDALL JENKINS, ANDOVER; 
 CHARLES H. POOR, NORTH ANDOVER; ZIBA M. SAUN- 
 DERS, .READING. 
 
 COMPANY I 
 
 GEORGE H. ABBOTT, PEABODY; JOHN W. BROWNVILLE, 
 GLOUCESTER; JOHN F. DUDLEY, BEVERLY; JOHN METZ- 
 GER, DANVERS; IRA F. TRASK, DANVERS; SYLVANUS F. 
 TREAT, COHASSET. 
 
 COMPANY K 
 
 JOHN CHARD, BROOKLINE; SYLVESTER C. FROST, ARLING 
 TON; CHARLES W. HUNTER, PETERBORO, N. H.; HIRAM 
 W. JONES, CONCORD; JAMES N. LEARNED, RUMNEY 
 DEPOT, N. H.; HENRY C. McDuFFiE, BELLOWS FALLS, 
 VT.; WILLIAM H. MERROW, LAWRENCE; JUDSON RILEY, 
 MERRIMAC; JOHN E. SHEEHAN, LAWRENCE; GEORGE F. 
 TIBBETS, ARLINGTON; Lucius A. WILDER, GOSHEN, IND. 
 
 COMPANY L 
 
 WILLIAM A. CROAK, RANDOLPH ; STANLEY B. DEARBORN, 
 WAKEFIELD; JOHN W. HART, SALEM; WILLIAM H. LORD, 
 HINGHAM; WILLIAM J. MANSFIELD, WAKEFIELD; EDWIN 
 F. SPOFFORD, MALDEN; JOHN F. WHIPPLE, SALEM; IRA 
 P. WILLARD, IPSWICH; JOSEPH E. WILEY, STONEHAM. 
 
 COMPANY M 
 
 RICHARD ALLEY, LYNN; JAMES P. BACHELDER, LYNN; 
 JAMES C. COLLINS, SKOWHEGAN, ME.; WILLIAM HAR- 
 
140 APPENDIX 
 
 RINGTON, EAST WEYMOUTH ; JOSEPH W. HAYDEN, QUINCY; 
 CHARLES H. NEWHALL, LYNN; PATRICK O MALLEY, 
 
 SOMERVILLE ; HERBERT W. PARROTT, LYNN. 
 
 NAMES OF MEMBERS OF OLD CONCORD POST, 
 NO. 1 80, G. A. R. 
 
 Who formed the Escort, June 16, 1909. 
 GEORGE F. WHEELER, Commander. 
 
 EDWARD J. BARTLETT; FRANK E. BEMIS; CYRUS W. 
 BENJAMIN; GEORGE W. BERRY; G. M. BOWKER; JOHN 
 BROWN; JAMES W. CARTER; JOHN CLARITY; GEORGE B. 
 CUNNINGHAM; JOSEPH DERBY; Louis H. GEORGE; 
 GEORGE F. HALL; MYRICK L. HATCH ; WILLIAM H. HUNT; 
 ASA JACOBS; CHARLES H. JOHNSON; PATRICK KEEFE; 
 CHARLES D. LITCHFIELD; JOHN H. LORING; ANDREW 
 R. MAKER; EDWARD H. MAKER; JOSEPH H. OREN- 
 DORFF; EDWARD W. REYNOLDS; JOHNTASKER; HIRAM P. 
 WORTH LEY. 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN POST, NO. u, CHARLES- 
 TOWN 
 
 EDWIN CHAPMAN. 
 
 G. B. PATTEN POST, NO. 81, WATERTOWN 
 WILLIAM H. BENJAMIN. 
 
APPENDIX B 
 
 A SKETCH OF THE 
 FIRST MASSACHUSETTS HEAVY ARTILLERY 
 
 IN the early summer of 1861, there was raised in Essex 
 County an organization which, after reporting at Fort 
 Warren, June 25, was designated as the Fourteenth Regi 
 ment of Infantry, and as such was mustered into the United 
 States service, July 5. The first Colonel was William B. 
 Greene, who had been educated at West Point, though he 
 was not a graduate. Under his direction a high degree of 
 efficiency in drill was attained, so that on leaving Boston, 
 August 7, 1 86 1, the regiment was far better prepared than 
 the majority of volunteer organizations when departing 
 for the theatre of war. 
 
 Its orders on leaving Massachusetts were to report at 
 Harper s Ferry, but in Baltimore these were counter 
 manded, and the regiment proceeded to Washington. Its 
 first camp was at Kalorama, on Meridian Heights, but it 
 was soon ordered to Fort Albany, on the Virginia side of 
 the Potomac. Proving exceedingly efficient in garrison 
 duty, the Fourteenth continued in the forts and batteries 
 near and to the southward of the western terminal of the 
 Long Bridge through the remainder of the year. January 
 i, 1862, a reorganization was effected, the regiment was 
 
142 APPENDIX 
 
 recruited up to the Heavy Artillery standard, and two new 
 companies were added. 
 
 Under a new designation, viz., the First Heavy Artillery, 
 it continued in garrison duty until August 25, 1862, when it 
 moved to the front and was present, though it did not 
 participate, in the Second Bull Run fight. However, in its 
 reserve position, it was attacked by the hostile cavalry, and 
 the surgical staff with certain wagoners was captured, 
 though the officers and men were soon released or paroled. 
 Subsequently, garrison service was performed, either oppo 
 site Washington or by a detachment at Maryland Heights, 
 across the Potomac from Harper s Ferry, there putting in 
 order the guns dismounted by order of Colonel Dixon S. 
 Miles at the time of the famous surrender just before 
 Antietam. 
 
 During the year, Colonel Greene resigned and was suc 
 ceeded by Colonel Thomas R. Tannatt, who was trans 
 ferred from the command of the Sixteenth Massachusetts 
 Infantry, December 28, 1862. Colonel Tannatt was a West 
 Pointer, having been graduated in 1854, number 7 in a 
 class of twenty-seven members, no one of whom attained 
 great distinction during the war, though of the first seven 
 all, save numbers i and 7, went into the Confederate 
 service. During much of the time that the regiment re 
 mained in the Defenses, Colonel Tannatt was in com 
 mand of the brigade which included his own regiment. 
 
 When General Grant assumed command in the East, 
 he proceeded to utilize the well-drilled troops thus far 
 remaining near Washington, in this way reinforcing the 
 Army of the Potomac with forty thousand extremely well- 
 
APPENDIX 143 
 
 drilled soldiers. It was May 15, 1864, that the First Heavy 
 Artillery, acting as Infantry, moved out of the intrench- 
 ments so long occupied and reported in Alexandria, going 
 thence in transports to Belle Plain Landing on Potomac 
 Creek and joining the Army on the lyth. Assigned to the 
 Second Brigade, Third Division of the Second Corps, it 
 soon was introduced to all the exactions of active cam 
 paigning. 
 
 Its baptism of blood was received on the igth at Harris s 
 Farm or Fredericksburg Pike, Fox making the loss of killed 
 and mortally wounded one hundred and twenty men and 
 officers. It was in the foremost of all subsequent engage 
 ments of its Corps and Division, bearing on its battle flag 
 the names of Winchester, Spottsylvania, North Anna, 
 Totopotomy, Cold Harbor, Deep Bottom, Poplar Spring 
 Church, Boydton Road, Petersburg (three engagements), 
 Jerusalem Road, Vaughn Road, the Final Assault on 
 Petersburg, besides being present at Maryland Heights, 
 Strawberry Plain, Hatcher s Run, Sailor s Creek, Farm- 
 ville, and Appomattox. 
 
 The regimental loss in battle was such that the name 
 of the First Heavy is found no less than seven times in 
 Fox s famous compilation of regimental records during the 
 Rebellion. There we find that there were nine officers and 
 232 men killed or mortally wounded, while 243 more died 
 of disease or in rebel prisons, no less than 102 men thus 
 perishing miserably yet gloriously in the hands of the enemy. 
 Nowhere did this Massachusetts organization give other 
 than a good account of itself, fully sustaining the reputation 
 that the Bay State long ago established. 
 
i 4 4 APPENDIX 
 
 Having largely reenlisted, the First retained its organ 
 ization (though reduced to a battalion of four companies), 
 and after Appomattox resumed garrison duty in the De 
 fenses, remaining there until mustered out. Colonel Tan- 
 natt having resigned July 15, 1864, he was succeeded by 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Levi P. Wright, who was in turn fol 
 lowed by Lieutenant-Colonel Nathaniel Shatswell, who 
 came home with the regiment. The command was ordered 
 to Massachusetts on the iyth of August, 1865, for muster 
 out. Reporting in Boston on the 20th, it encamped on 
 Gallop s Island until the 25th, when after four years and 
 two months of service it was mustered out. From first to 
 last, there were borne on the rolls of the regiment 3439 
 names. To-day, the records of the veteran organization 
 show only about five hundred men known to be alive. 
 
APPENDIX C 
 
 THE MORTALITY AT ANDERSONVILLE 
 
 IT chanced that James C. Melvin was one of the Union sol 
 diers guarding the Confederate prisoners at Fort Delaware 
 during part of the time that his brother Samuel was a pris 
 oner at Andersonville. This coincidence has suggested a 
 comparison of the mortality rates in the two prisons at 
 that time, and the striking results are worth setting down 
 here. 
 
 In the months of June, July, August, and September, 
 1864, there were on an average 9224 Confederate prisoners 
 confined at Fort Delaware, and during that time there were 
 313 deaths, or 3.39 per cent. In the same months there 
 were on an average 25,241 Union prisoners at Anderson 
 ville, and there were during that time 8636 deaths, or 34.21 
 per cent. 
 
 A report for the month of August, 1864, signed by Henry 
 Wirz, shows that on August i the number of prisoners 
 was 31,678. In the course of the month 2993 died. "Per 
 haps 25 escaped during the month," the report adds, "but 
 were taken up by the dogs." 
 
 It is a melancholy fact that more Union soldiers perished 
 at Andersonville than were killed on the six most bloody 
 battlefields of the war. The total deaths at Andersonville 
 
146 APPENDIX 
 
 are reported as 13,714. The numbers of Union men killed 
 in the six battles referred to were as follows : - 
 
 Gettysburg 3070 
 
 Spottsylvania 2725 
 
 The Wilderness 2246 
 
 Shiloh 1754 
 
 Stone s River 1730 
 
 Chickamauga 1656 
 
 13,181 
 
 A great deal has been said and written about the condi 
 tions that prevailed at Andersonville, and that led to the 
 awful loss of life there. In view of some of the almost in 
 credible entries in Samuel Melvin s diary, it seems well to 
 add here a few statements from Confederate sources. It 
 will be noted that the first quotation relates to the prison, 
 the second to the hospital. 
 
 The following is taken from the Official Report of Lieu 
 tenant-Colonel D. T. Chandler to the Richmond authorities, 
 dated August 5, 1864. "... The sanitary condition of the 
 prisoners is as wretched as can be, the principal causes 
 of mortality being scurvy and chronic diarrhoea. Nothing 
 seems to have been done, and but little if any effort made 
 to arrest it by procuring proper food. . . . Raw rations 
 
 are issued to a very large proportion. .... . No soap or 
 
 clothing has ever been issued. . . . My duty requires me 
 
 respectfully to recommend a change in the officer in com 
 mand of the post, Brigadier-General J. H. Winder, and 
 the substitution in his place of some one who unites both 
 energy and good judgment with some feeling of humanity 
 and consideration for the welfare and comfort (so far as is 
 
APPENDIX 147 
 
 consistent with their safe-keeping) of the vast number of 
 unfortunates placed under his control; some one who at 
 least will not advocate deliberately and in cold blood the 
 propriety of leaving them in their present condition until 
 their number has been sufficiently reduced by death to 
 make the present arrangement suffice for their accommo 
 dation; who will not consider it a matter of self-laudation 
 and boasting that he has never been inside of the stockade, 
 a place the horrors of which it is difficult to describe, and 
 which is a disgrace to civilization ; l the condition of which 
 he might, by the exercise of a little energy and judgment, 
 even with the limited means at his command, have con 
 siderably improved. . . ." 
 
 A month later, September 5, J. Crews Pelot, Assistant Sur 
 geon, C. S. A., reported thus on the condition of the hos 
 pital :"...! would earnestly call attention to the article 
 of diet. The corn-bread received from the bakery, being 
 made up without sifting, is wholly unfit for the use of the 
 sick; and often (in the last twenty- four hours) upon exami 
 nation, the inner portion is found to be perfectly raw. The 
 meat (beef) received by the patients does not amount to 
 over two ounces a day, and for the past three or four days no 
 flour has been issued. The corn-bread cannot be eaten by 
 many, for to do so would be to increase the diseases of the 
 bowels, from which a large majority are suffering, and it is 
 therefore thrown away. All their rations received by way 
 of sustenance is two ounces of boiled beef and half pint of 
 rice soup per day. Under these circumstances, all the skill 
 that can be brought to bear upon their cases by the medical 
 "The italics are not in the original. 
 
148 APPENDIX 
 
 officer will avail nothing. Another point to which I feel it 
 my duty to call your attention is the deficiency of medicines. 
 We have but little more than indigenous barks and roots 
 with which to treat the numerous forms of disease to which 
 our attention is daily called. For the treatment of wounds, 
 ulcers, etc., we have literally nothing except water. Our 
 wards some of them are filled with gangrene, and we are 
 compelled to fold our arms and look quietly upon its rav 
 ages, not even having stimulants to support the system 
 under its depressing influences, this article being so limited 
 in supply that it can only be issued for cases under the knife. 
 I would respectfully call your attention to the above facts, 
 in the hope that something may be done to alleviate the 
 sufferings of the sick. . . ." 
 
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