If any of my old comrades in arms shall have passed a pleasant hour in reading this history, I shall feel amply repaid for time and trouble in its preparation.
Charles P. Bosson.
CONTENTS.
| [CHAPTER I.] | ||
|---|---|---|
| PAGE. | ||
| Organization of Regiment—Camp at Readville—Departure for New York | 1 | |
| [CHAPTER II.] | ||
| En Route—Camp at East New York—On Transports | 19 | |
| [CHAPTER III.] | ||
| On Board Transports—The Saxon—Quincy—Charles Osgood—Shetucket—Quinnebaug | 38 | |
| [CHAPTER IV.] | ||
| Galveston | 61 | |
| [CHAPTER V.] | ||
| At Carrollton—Bound for Galveston—Arrival of Companies—Camp Mansfield—Details | 140 | |
| [CHAPTER VI.] | ||
| February—At Bayou Gentilly—More Details | 154 | |
| [CHAPTER VII.] | ||
| Enlisted Men Prisoners at Houston—March for the Federal Lines—Arrival at New Orleans | 173 | |
| [CHAPTER VIII.] | ||
| At Bayou Gentilly—March—April | 197 | |
| [CHAPTER IX.] | ||
| At Bayou Gentilly—May | 226 | |
| [CHAPTER X.] | ||
| Bayou Gentilly—June—Farewell to Gentilly Camp—In New Orleans | 239 | |
| [CHAPTER XI.] | ||
| Brashear City | 252 | |
| [CHAPTER XII.] | ||
| Action at La-Fourche Crossing | 286 | |
| [CHAPTER XIII.] | ||
| July—In New Orleans—At Algiers | 310 | |
| [CHAPTER XIV.] | ||
| Companies C and H on Detached Service at Camp Parapet | 331 | |
| [CHAPTER XV.] | ||
| Company K in Charge of Pontoons—Baton Rouge—Teche Campaign—Siege of Port Hudson—Donaldsonville—Return to Regiment | 352 | |
| [CHAPTER XVI.] | ||
| August—At Algiers—Bound North—On Board “Continental”—Arrival Home | 378 | |
| [CHAPTER XVII.] | ||
| Adventures of Corporal Wentworth and Private Hersey | 389 | |
| [CHAPTER XVIII.] | ||
| Officers in Confederate Prisons—Houston—State Prison—Camp Groce—Camp Ford—En Route Home—At Home | 415 | |
| [CHAPTER XIX.] | ||
| In Service for One Hundred Days—Organization—Readville—Off for Washington—At Alexandria—At Great Falls—Return Home | 442 | |
ILLUSTRATIONS. | ||
| PAGE. | ||
| [Field and Staff Officers] | 1 | |
| [Kuhn’s Wharf, Galveston] | 81 | |
| [Headquarters at Bayou Gentilly] | 161 | |
| Lieut-Col. Stedman. | Col. Burrill. | Chaplain Sanger. |
CHAPTER I.
Organization of Regiment—Camp at Readville—Departure for New York.
At the time (August 4th, 1862) a draft was ordered by President Lincoln for three hundred thousand militia to serve for a period of nine months, Colonel Isaac S. Burrell was in command of the Second Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia—an old militia organization of the State. General Orders No. 25, issued July 1st, 1862, by the Commander-in-Chief of the State troops, Governor John A. Andrew, notified the militia to prepare for a call to service. General Orders No. 34, issued August 13th, 1862, by the same authority, notified the volunteer militia they would be accepted for nine months service.
In common with other organized and uniformed militia organizations in the State, the colonel was instructed by officers and men of his command to tender the regiment as volunteers for nine months service, and to obtain permission to recruit up to the requisite strength. Public opinion was opposed to a draft at that time, and Governor Andrew, by accepting the services of such militia bodies as volunteered, affording every facility in his power to enable them to recruit up to the full maximum of strength, avoided the necessity for a draft, made available the services of those officers who eventually recruited their companies to a war strength, and the rank and file already enlisted in the militia—a very fine nucleus to commence with. The intermixing of raw recruits with men of some experience of the duties of a soldier tended to greatly facilitate the mobilization of the States’ quota, and hastened the departure of regiments to the field in a tolerable good condition for immediate duty.
The Second Regiment, M. V. M., was one of the regiments accepted. As there was already a Second Regiment (three years troops) in the field, orders were issued designating the regiment as the Forty-Second Regiment, M. V. M., and was ordered into a camp of instruction at Readville, August 26th, 1862.