The Old First Massachusetts Coast Artillery in War and Peace

by Frederick Morse Cutler

And thruout these opening days the 1st Regiment was subjected to the very hardest test, in that nothing whatever happened to them. They could not take comfort in the knowledge that the 3d Regiment, one of the very earliest to go, would by and by become consolidated with them, and so share the honors which they were earning. All that the members of the 1st could do was to hope, and growl, and wonder why the Governor should select them for home-guard purposes while he allowed others to go to war.

Then something actually did happen, which only served to aggravate. Captain Sampson discovered a vacancy in the 6th Regiment, and with Col. Cowdin’s approval promptly secured the transfer of his 7th Company, the Washington Light Guard, one of the three strong artillery companies which had come down from the very beginning of regimental history; so that the 6th had a Co. K of which to be proud, and the 1st Regiment had nothing. Co. K of the 6th, as was to be expected, covered itself with glory during the street-fight in Baltimore on April 19. Capt. David K. Wardwell, whose company had suffered disbandment a few months before, profited by his consequent independence and organized a new company, with Col. Cowdin presiding at the election of officers; and then took the new organization off with the 5th Regiment as Co. F. “Wardwell’s Tigers” shared in the laurels won by their regiment at Annapolis and Washington, and three months later at Bull Run found themselves fighting in the same army with the old 1st Regiment. Meanwhile their success in getting into active service did not make it any easier for the 1st Regiment to endure the masterly inactivity of those April days.

Finally on April 27, the 1st Regiment was ordered to prepare itself—as if it had not been prepared “right up to the handle” for two weeks past. But, alas, instructions came from the War Department that no more three-months men were desired, and after fifteen days’ service by the regiment, the order was, on May 7, revoked. Forty-two years later the legislature passed a resolve according official recognition to the 1st Regiment as having volunteered with the other “minute men;” but this was no comfort whatever to the eager young soldiers of 1861, who were told to lay down their weapons and go home. Col. Cowdin and his men were in high favor at the Boston City Hall; but owing to their services at the Burns riot, and for other political reasons, they were frowned on by Gov. Andrew and the Senators.

On second thought Col. Cowdin decided that he and his men were going to get into active service in spite of all difficulties. It had just become known that the Government desired three-year regiments, and this opened a door of possibility. The 1st would go to war for three years. To be sure this was a plunge in the dark. Suppose the war should not last three years—would the troops be kept in service anyway? Moreover, there had never been any three-year volunteers in the United States, during any previous war; and it requires courage to set a precedent. But Col. Cowdin and his men made the necessary readjustments demanded by the prospect of prolonged absence from home, and volunteered as a three-year regiment. Owing to their promptness, they were able to win an honor greater even than came to the “minute-men;” for they became the very first long-term volunteer regiment to enter U. S. service anywhere in the country, the first not only of the Civil War but of any war. Their adventures, and the battles they fought, are “another story”; and will be told in a later chapter.

One of the three old original artillery companies having been lost to the 6th, another was destined to go with—no, the correct expression is, to “become”—the 13th Regiment. Late in 1860 the 8th Company, the “Boston Artillery,” became interested in organizing a “crack” battalion or regiment for Boston. They were already members of the best regiment in the Commonwealth, but they were not satisfied with that. Capt. Baldwin did not share in this new ambition and declined to have anything to do with it. In civil life he was a merchant and wholly practical in his tastes; as a soldier he was a plain, blunt man, “full of strange oaths,” “who loved his friends.” The new departure did not appeal to him. So Capt. Baldwin transferred to the 4th Company, the Pulaski Guards, and remained with his old regiment; while the Boston Artillery chose Gen. Samuel H. Leonard, recently of Worcester, as their captain. Under Capt. Leonard the Boston Artillery absorbed what survived of the disbanded Columbian Greys or City Guards of the old 1st, and proceeded to expand into the 4th Battalion of Rifles. It was on Dec. 15, 1860, that the new battalion was formed. Before the enthusiastic officers and men had time to do much toward developing their ideal of a “crack” regiment, they found themselves upon the threshold of the great war. On May 25, 1861, they volunteered to garrison Ft. Independence for one month; and almost before the month had expired, the 4th Battalion of Rifles had expanded once more and become the 13th Regiment, and on July 16 they were mustered in for three years’ service. Col. Cowdin’s men felt that they could well afford to lose their grand old 8th Company, when their loss resulted in the addition of an entire regiment to the Union army. The 13th served as part of the first corps in the army of Virginia, and later the army of the Potomac. Their regimental monument stands on the field of their hardest fight, that of the first day at Gettysburg, where they lost their gallant corps commander, Gen. John F. Reynolds. And on the second day of that battle, toward evening, they were sent to reinforce Sickles on the left, in whose corps was the 1st Massachusetts. Once more the Boston Artillery and the Roxbury Artillery were serving side by side.

On May 18, 1861, just one week before the 1st was mustered into Federal service, it lost another company. Capt. Joseph H. Barnes had organized a new 7th Company to fill the place made vacant by Capt. Sampson’s withdrawal. But the example of his predecessor proved contagious; so that presently the new company followed the old one. Capt. Barnes’ command joined the 4th Mass. Infantry at Fort Monroe, and so found active work immediately. When, however, the 4th presently came home, its new Co. K was left behind, and became incorporated in the 29th Regiment, with which it served three years. In 1862 the 29th was with the army of the Potomac, in 1863 in Mississippi and Tennessee, and again with the army of the Potomac in 1864. Capt. Gardner Walker’s North End True Blues eventually went with Col. Cowdin as the 7th Company.

Lieutenant Colonel Isaac S. Burrell was not able to accompany his regiment in the three-years’ service. Remaining in Boston with a few other members who were similarly situated, he maintained a skeleton organization of the old militia regiment. And because the new number, 1st, was borne by Col. Cowdin, Col. Burrell had to hunt another designation for his command. The fourteen officers and two hundred sixteen men, in seven companies, who were engaged in this home-guard duty were by no means satisfied with their position. Their hearts were in Maryland and Virginia with their former comrades.

In the spring of 1862 Banks was driven from the Shenandoah valley and the north began to fear for the safety of Washington. On May 26, in response to requests from the Secretary of War, Massachusetts and other northern states mobilized their militia, recruiting the regiments up as nearly as possible to full strength. This alarm subsided presently. But Pope’s defeat at second Bull Run, August 30, left the capital in genuine peril, and caused a hasty call for 300,000 more troops, to serve nine months. Grave disaster had overtaken the Union arms, and there was immediate need for reinforcements. Col. Burrell was in militia camp at Medford with his regiment when the call came; and at once volunteered. Indeed this was just the chance for which they had been waiting—active duty but for a period not so extended as three years.

Recruits were needed in order to bring the regiment up to war strength. By some singular perversity, as soon as recruiting began, a situation developed which threatened to destroy the regiment entirely. Col. Burrell and Lt. Col. Thomas L. D. Perkins were both graduates of the 1st Company, Perkins having succeeded Burrell as captain. A bitter jealousy had grown up in Perkins’ mind which made him incapable of rendering loyal support to his chief. Maj. George W. Beach shared Lt. Col. Perkins’ feeling and co-operated in his insubordination. Needless to say, Col. Burrell gave no real ground whatever for this feeling.