CHAPTER VII.
Company D, Third Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia.
[The following historical sketch of Company D, Third Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia (a nine months’ campaign during the War of the Rebellion), was prepared by Capt. Andrew R. Wright, and read by him at the reunion of the Third Regiment, held at Lincoln Park, Mass.]
In the month of August, 1862, a call was made by the President of the United States for three hundred thousand troops to aid in suppressing the rebellion then still existing, and to serve for a term of nine months, or during the war. In compliance with that call the Commonwealth of Massachusetts proceeded to mobilize the militia of the State, by reorganizing the old regiments not then in the field, and by forming a number of new regiments for service under that call. Among the old regiments included in that call was the Third, which was located in the Old Colony district. Company D of this regiment was recruited up to the maximum, one hundred and one men, as required at that time by the laws of the United States governing the service in time of war. The company was composed of men enlisted from Fall River and Westport. When nearly the full number had been recruited, an election of officers was held in the City Hall in Fall River, at which election Col. Silas P. Richmond presided. The election resulted in the choice of Andrew R. Wright as captain, Thomas McFarland as first lieutenant, and George Reynolds as second lieutenant. In a few days afterwards the ranks having reached the required number, the company was ordered to proceed to the camp of instruction at Lakeville, which had been prepared by the State for such instruction to the raw troops as might be given to them previous to being called into active service at the front, and also to issue necessary clothing and equipments. The camp was known as “Camp Joe Hooker.” While there the company was drilled in the setting-up drill and company movements, also practical instruction in guard duty.
Capt. ANDREW R. WRIGHT.
On the 23d of September, 1862, the company was mustered into the United States service by a regular army officer; the company was paraded in two ranks, the ranks were opened and the front rank faced the rear; the mustering officer, having the muster roll, passed between the ranks from left to right critically examining each man as he came before him. Not one was rejected. After the identification and inspection the men collectively were required to remove their caps, hold up their right hands and take the oath to support the laws and constitution of the United States. The parade was then dismissed, and the company was then truly a portion of Uncle Sam’s army for the defence of the Union. The non-commissioned officers were appointed as follows:
Sergeants: Samuel B. Hinckley, First; Francis McGraw, Almanzor S. Elsbree, James Holt, Thomas A. Austin.
Corporals: Ashael M. Borden, Cornelius Kelley, Jr., Philip Chase, Charles E. Slade, William H. Wright, William H. Monroe, Sierra L. Braley, Charles F. Tripp.
After the muster the company was furloughed for one week that they might make a last visit to friends before leaving for the front. At the expiration of the furlough all returned to camp except two; one of whom deserted the service, the other was returned to the company by the provost guard after they reached Newbern. After all preparations had been made the company had orders to break camp and proceed to Newbern, N. C., via Boston, and thence by steamer to point of destination. On the morning of departure from Camp Joe Hooker, the regimental line was formed for the first time, Company D being upon the extreme left of the line. The company with the rest of the regiment marched from the camp to the railroad station at Lakeville on the line of the Old Colony road and embarked upon cars and were transported to Boston, marched through the city and went on board the steamer Mississippi that was to convey the whole of the Fifth and half of the Third Regiments to North Carolina. To say that the steamer was full conveys but a faint idea of the crowded condition of the vessel, and many of the men realized for the first time the discomforts and privations of campaigning; and this was but the beginning of hardships they endured during their nine months’ campaign in the swamps and pine barrens of the old “North State.” After an uneventful voyage by steamer, the company arrived at Morehead City and disembarked, then were transported on flat, uncovered freight cars to Newbern; arriving there they were marched to the first camp occupied by the regiment in Dixie. In honor of the colonel it was named Camp Richmond. It was located on the banks of the Neuse River and on the left of the Forty-fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, who had preceded the Third a few days. During all this time neither the regiment nor the company had been supplied with arms, and were not so supplied until some days after the arrival, when early one evening the long roll was sounded and report came in from the front, some six miles away, that our pickets had been driven in and the enemy was then marching upon Newbern. Then the arms and ammunition were issued to the regiment and as soon as possible the company was paraded in the company street, anxiously awaiting the call to form regimental line; but the alarm proved false and the company was dismissed to quarters, and the camp quieted down for the night. Subsequently, upon critical examination of the arms that had been issued, they proved to be a lot of Austrian rifles, and were nearly worthless. The men were very much discouraged, as the springs in the locks of some of the rifles were so weak that it was impossible to explode a percussion cap with the hammers; but by the skill of Sergeant Austin and the use of tools procured from the ordnance officers of the department the guns of the company were got into quite serviceable condition, but were far from satisfactory at any time during the company’s term of service.
From this time forward until early in the month of December, 1862, the company was engaged in the regular camp and garrison duty, among which were company, battalion, and brigade drills. To vary the monotony of camp life somewhat, the company with Company C were detailed for picket duty on the railroad between Newbern and Beaufort, occupying a deserted rebel cavalry camp. The company remained there two weeks and then returned to Newbern.
On the evening of December 10, 1862, after dress parade, the colonel commanding gave orders to prepare three days’ cooked rations, and, upon the following day, to issue the same to the men, and also to see that they were provided with serviceable shoes and two pairs of new socks for each man, that forty rounds of ammunition be supplied each cartridge box, that the trunks of all officers and the knapsacks of enlisted men be packed with all necessary articles and made ready for the wagoners who would take them on the following afternoon. All these unusual orders could mean but one thing, and that was an expedition into the enemy’s country; and, acting upon these orders, Company D made requisitions upon the quartermaster and commissary for the requisite amount of supplies to comply with the order. The camp was stripped of everything not absolutely necessary for use by the men. Before daylight on the morning of the 11th, the regimental line was formed and troops marched out into the Neuse road that ran from Newbern out into the enemy’s country. Very little apparent progress was made that day, much time being consumed straightening out the column, and it was late when the company went into bivouac, passing under a magnificent arch of fire formed by the blazing trunks of turpentine trees that lined either side of the road and almost as far as the eye could reach on the right and left of the column. The next day the regiment was detailed to guard the baggage train and slow progress was made.
On the 14th occurred the battle of Kinston, and the company being in line of battle for the first time, it was attached to the brigade commanded by Colonel Lee of the Twenty-seventh Massachusetts Regiment, and was on the extreme left of the line, it being in close proximity to a field hospital. The sight of the wounded and dying being brought from the front and through the lines to the hospital was not a cheerful prospect, nor one calculated to enliven the spirits of the men while expecting at any moment to receive the order to advance into the circle of fire, but no man flinched and all were ready for whatever duty might be required of them. The brigade being in the rear line of battle was not actively engaged with the enemy. The enemy was defeated and the Union column entered Kinston early in the evening of that day and went into bivouac in a large field or common in front of the town. There they remained until the following morning. After going into bivouac strict orders were promulgated from general headquarters forbidding foraging in the town, but sometime in the middle of the night the company was mysteriously supplied with a most bountiful supply of all needful provisions and many of the luxuries of life in the shape of canned jellies, fruits, and preserves, and for once at least the company reveled in a grand banquet.
The next morning the company with the rest of the troops evacuated the town and took up the line of march toward Whitehall, which was reached the following day in the afternoon. Here a fierce artillery fight took place, the right brigade of the column and most, if not all of the artillery, being engaged with the enemy.
The brigade to which the Third Massachusetts Regiment and Company D was attached, passed around the base of a hill in the rear of the line of battle (but well within range of the enemy’s sharpshooters, as the singing of their rifle bullets passing just above the heads of the company so eloquently testified) to the right of the position held by the enemy, and which they evacuated that night. The company bivouacked the same night upon a sandy plain on the edge of a forest, with hungry stomachs and empty haversacks; but they were very fortunate in finding the commissary wagons that night and securing a fifty-pound box of hardtack and a few pounds of mixed coffee and sugar, which proved a very welcome supper.
On the next day, the 17th of December, the company met the enemy; the brigade to which the regiment was attached being upon the right of the column, found itself in the immediate vicinity of the enemy early in the forenoon, the skirmishers driving in their pickets and developing their position near a bridge on the Wilmington and Welden Railroad that crosses the Neuse River near the town of Goldsboro. After a sharp engagement the enemy retired; the Union Infantry Regiments were marched to a position near the railroad, stacked arms, and commenced to destroy the road, which was effectively accomplished for a number of miles. At the same time the bridge was fired and destroyed, thus for the time crippling the road, which was supposed to be one of the leading lines of communication of the Confederate army of Northern Virginia with the southern portion of the Confederacy.
When preparing to leave the field an alarm was made that the enemy had rallied, reformed their lines, and were about to make an attack. The alarm proved to be correct, our lines were hastily reformed to resist such attack. It was at this time that the company first met the enemy face to face, as they came down the railroad embankment like a swarm of immense gray ants. They formed line of battle in the open fields as on parade, and started with a yell to make a charge upon the Union lines some three hundred yards in their front. These lines were composed of troops of which Company D of the Third Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Militia formed a part.
Sections of the New York Artillery and Belger’s Rhode Island battery of Parrott guns were rapidly placed in position in the immediate front of the infantry lines formed to resist the charge of the enemy, and hurled such terrible charges of grape and canister into the faces of the enemy that no human courage could withstand, and, before more than half the distance that separated the contending lines had been traversed, the enemy’s lines were broken, and those of the enemy who were able to do so sought shelter in the thick woods on their left, followed by showers of bullets from the rifles of the infantry. While this scene was terribly exciting, so far as known not a man left the ranks of Company D, with the exception of one man slightly wounded by a fragment of an exploded shell.
This action ended the active hostilities of this expedition of the Eighteenth Army Corps into the enemy’s country. It failed of its co-operative purpose, as the Army of the Potomac had been disastrously defeated at Fredericksburg a short time previous, thus enabling the commander of the Confederate forces to reinforce at any point. The expedition returned to Newbern without incident, and shortly after were ordered to inscribe upon their colors the words “Kinston,” “Whitehall,” and “Goldsboro,” to commemorate the battles that were fought at the locations indicated.
An inspiring sight gladdened the hearts of the company when approaching Newbern on the return from the expedition, in the appearance of the Stars and Stripes floating in the air from the flagstaff on Fort Totten; it seemed to welcome the column home from the dangers and hardships it had endured in its defence.
The company went into its old quarters at Camp Richmond, and the regular routine of camp duty commenced. The trunks and knapsacks were again returned by the wagoners, and the company were housekeeping comfortably once more. Nothing of great interest occurred until early in the year of 1863, the company in the meantime participating with the regiment in two or three marches into the enemy’s country, but with no apparent results. In the late winter or early spring of 1863 the enemy made a reconnoissance in force along the whole line of the department, and seemed determined to make an assault upon Newbern from the left flank of the Neuse River and directly opposite of the town, but they were held at bay by a comparatively small force, when, with the assistance of the gunboats, they were compelled to retire. A strong demonstration was made upon the lines immediately in front of Newbern, strong reinforcements, among whom were the Third Regiment with Company D attached, were hurried to the front, remaining under arms all night, and momentarily expecting an attack, but no assault came and the enemy withdrew. They seemed more determined upon the extreme right of the lines of the department, as they erected batteries upon the river bluff opposite the town of Little Washington, thus cutting off communication with the troops occupying that position, and the rest of the department, also holding the general commanding the department at the time the enemy closed the river. To relieve this condition of affairs, a column was formed of all the available troops then in Newbern, among whom was the regiment to which Company D was attached, and an attempt was made to reach the rear of the enemy’s position in front of Little Washington by way of a road crossing Blount’s Creek in the rear of the position held by the enemy; but the attempt failed, although the artillery attached to the column and the right of the brigade to which the company was attached, were actively engaged with the enemy perhaps for a half hour. Yet, for some unexplained reason, the order was given to retreat on Newbern, which the column reached without molestation by the enemy, and the troops in a dispirited frame of mind, as they could not understand the grand strategy exhibited upon this expedition.
About this time a number of regiments returned to the department from South Carolina, where they had been sent some months before to re-enforce General Hunter in his operations against the rebel position in and about Fort Sumter and the approaches to Charleston. About the time that these troops returned to the department General Foster bravely succeeded in running the blockade at Little Washington, and suddenly appeared at Newbern. Affairs quickly assumed a different aspect. He immediately organized two expeditions, one to reach the rear of the rebel position that was besieging Little Washington, the other to make a demonstration on Kinston. Company D was attached to the latter column, and with the rest of the troops was transported by train to Batchelder’s Creek, the extreme front line of the department. The company remained here a few days, and with the rest of the regiment and other troops, made threatening demonstrations upon the enemy’s position in front of Kinston. No decisive action was had, but the demonstrations there and at Little Washington had the effect of raising the siege of that place, and the enemy retreated from his threatening positions before the whole line, and quiet reigned again.
In the early spring an order was received by the commanding officer of Company D from regimental headquarters to report to General Wessels, then in temporary command of the department, for instruction in some special duty. The officer so ordered immediately reported, and, in the interview with the general, the officer was told that information had been received that the enemy were preparing to erect fortifications at a locality some twelve or fourteen miles below Newbern, on the northerly bank of the Neuse river, and known as Wilkinson’s Point, for the purpose of blockading the river, thus closing this very important line of water communication by which the department received a very large part of its supplies of all kinds. He then gave the following order, “You will take with yourself your first lieutenant, two or three non-commissioned officers and fifty privates; see that they are provided with three days’ cooked rations in their haversacks and forty rounds of ammunition in their cartridge boxes. You will leave camp at five o’clock in the morning, march to the government wharf in the rear of general headquarters and go on board a steamer which you will find awaiting you there. A topographical engineer will be taken on board from the surveying steamer lying in the stream; you will then proceed down the river, being convoyed by one of the gunboats, the commanding officer of which has been given his instructions. Arriving near the point, your steamer will come to anchor, and you will observe closely whether signs of the enemy can be seen from the steamer; if there are indications that the enemy are in force then the gunboat will shell the place vigorously to drive them back from the point, when you will land your command under cover of the fire of the gunboat, and make a thorough inspection of the work that has been done by the enemy, and effectually destroy any fortifications that may have been begun. The engineer will land with you and make such plans and drawings as he may think proper. If upon your arrival at the point no signs of the enemy are apparent, you will land half of your command and endeavor to ascertain whether any unusual number of people, either soldiers or civilians, have visited or made surveys of the point; thoroughly examine the location one or two miles back from the point and upon either side of it, and make report to these headquarters through your regimental commander.”
The officer, after receiving these instructions, was dismissed by the general with the significant remark that “this duty may be a pleasant excursion, or it may prove to be a very serious matter. Let us hope that it will turn out to be the former.”
The captain immediately returned to the regimental camp and the detachment was fully prepared that night. It was off bright and early the next morning; the point was reached in due time, but no signs of the enemy were seen. A detail of twenty-five men and sergeants, under the command of Lieutenant McFarland, was landed from the steamer and spent several hours seeking for knowledge of the enemy, but none was obtained and the detail was re-embarked and the steamer and detachment returned to Newbern the same day, the detail reaching camp about dusk, much pleased with this pleasant tour of duty.
Sometime in the month of May Company D with E and F companies was detailed for a tour of two weeks’ picket duty at Deep Gully, at the extreme front of this department. Nothing of moment occurred during the time occupied in this duty. At the expiration of two weeks the detail returned to camp at Newbern.
The term of service was now drawing near its close. Quite naturally the members of the company were impatient to return to the dear friends at home. In due time the order came to break camp and proceed to Boston. All camp and garrison equipage was collected and turned over to an officer detailed from general headquarters to receive it. All articles belonging to the company not otherwise needed was distributed to the comrades of other regiments in the department.
Early in June the regiment paraded in heavy marching order and marched out of the camp, where, upon the whole, so many pleasant days had been passed, and lasting friendships had been formed. The regiment marched through the town and gayly gave a marching salute to the brigade commander as it passed his headquarters. The colonel, staff, colors and right wing of the regiment marched to the railroad station in Newbern and was transported to Morehead City, thence took the steamer S. R. Spaulding to Boston. The left wing, to which Company D was attached, proceeded to the wharf in rear of general headquarters and went on board the steamer Tillie and sailed down the river to Hatteras Inlet, remaining inside the bar until the following morning, then proceeded to sea and reached Boston in due time. Escorted by the Forty-fourth Regiment, the Third marched to the Old Colony railway station, saluting the Governor of the Commonwealth when passing the State House. Company D with the rest of the regiment was furloughed for one week with orders to report at Camp Joe Hooker, Lakeville, at that time, there to be mustered out of the United States service. Companies C and D were transported to Fall River, where a very cordial reception awaited them by the city government. Upon the expiration of the furlough the company returned to Camp Joe Hooker, and, on June 26, 1863, was mustered out of service and returned to their several homes; and it is to be believed none regretted the duty which he had been able to perform for the country in its time of need.