We have not pursued this subject strictly in the order of dates, as the above order really ante-dated the formation of Richardson’s and Sibley’s companies; but they were in process of formation before this order was issued, and, to prevent confusion in the narrative, we have chosen to complete the story of each company before treating of the organization of the regiment, of which there is much to be said.
On the same day of the foregoing order, Brigadier-General[24] Ebenezer W. Pierce of Freetown was appointed by Governor Andrew Colonel of the Twenty-ninth Regiment; on the same day, also, Captain Joseph H. Barnes was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel, and Captain Charles Chipman Major. The staff and non-commissioned staff were as follows: Orlando Brown of Wrentham, Surgeon; George B. Cogswell of Easton, Assistant Surgeon; Lieutenant Joshua Norton, 3d, of Captain Clarke’s company, Quartermaster; Lieutenant John B. Collingwood of Captain Doten’s company, Adjutant; Sergeant Henry S. Braden of Captain Barnes’s company, Sergeant-Major; Sergeant William W. Davis of Clarke’s company, Quartermaster-Sergeant; John B. Pizer, of Tripp’s company, Commissary-Sergeant; John Hardy of Clarke’s company, Hospital Steward. Rev. Henry E. Hempstead of Watertown was chosen Chaplain in January, 1862.
On the 4th of January (1862), there were several promotions among the officers and men of the Battalion. First Lieutenant James H. Osgood, Jr., was made Captain of his company, in place of Barnes, promoted; First Lieutenant Charles Brady, Captain, in place of Chipman, promoted; Second Lieutenant William T. Keen of Captain Barnes’s company, First Lieutenant, vice Osgood, promoted; Sergeant William Pray of Barnes’s company, First Lieutenant, and assigned to duty in Captain Richardson’s company; Second Lieutenant Henry A. Kern of Chipman’s company, First Lieutenant, vice Brady, promoted; Sergeant John P. Burbeck of Barnes’s company, Second Lieutenant, vice Kern, promoted.
The lettering of the several companies, by no means an unimportant part of the work of organizing a regiment, was determined by the following order:—
“COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
“Headquarters, Boston, Jan. 2, 1862.
“Special Order, No. 2.
“The companies comprising the Twenty-ninth Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteers will be lettered as follows:—
“The company commanded by Captain Clarke, ‘A’; by Captain Wilson, ‘B’; by Captain Leach, ‘C’; by Lieutenant Brady, ‘D’; by Captain Doten, ‘E’; by Captain Tripp, ‘F’; by Captain Richardson, ‘G’; by Captain Sibley, ‘H’; by Captain Chamberlain, ‘I’; by Lieutenant Osgood (Barnes’s company), ‘K.’
“Colonel Pierce, commanding Twenty-ninth Regiment, will promulgate this order.
“By command of His Excellency John A. Andrew, Commander-in-Chief.
“William Brown, Asst. Adj. Gen.”
The companies of Captains Richardson, Sibley, and Tripp, together with Colonel Pierce, Surgeon Brown, and Assistant-Surgeon Cogswell, taking with them the colors of the regiment, left Boston for Newport News on the 13th of January, 1862, by the Stonington line to New York. At Philadelphia, they received the same bounty which the ladies of that noble city were giving to all the volunteers who passed through it. From Philadelphia, the command proceeded to Baltimore, and from thence by steamer to Fortress Monroe, reaching Camp Butler on the 17th of the month, and joining the Battalion there stationed.
Beside the proper officers of the three new companies, there were commissioned about this time, and assigned to the regiment, Second Lieutenant Augustus D. Ayling, First Lieutenant Freeman A. Taber, and First Lieutenant John A. Sayles. None of these officers had ever been connected with the Battalion, nor, with the exception of Ayling, had any of them seen service. The case of Company E of Plymouth gave rise to the most complaint. The lieutenants of this company were (First) John B. Collingwood and (Second) Thomas A. Mayo. Collingwood was made Adjutant of the regiment; but instead of promoting Lieutenant Mayo, who was a deserving and efficient officer of mature age, First Lieutenant Freeman A. Taber, a beardless boy, possessing very slight qualifications for his office, was placed over, and outranked, Mayo. The fact that this company was composed of a superior class of men, and contained not a few who were even capable of commanding a company, causes the wrong and slight thus put upon it to be still more apparent. Second Lieutenant Henry A. Kern of Company D was promoted to be First Lieutenant to fill the vacancy caused by the promotion of First Lieutenant Brady to the captaincy of that company, and Augustus D. Ayling, a most excellent soldier, formerly of Captain P. A. Davis’s company of Lowell, was assigned to the position of Second Lieutenant. The claims of Second Lieutenant George H. Taylor of Clarke’s company were overlooked, and Sayles, a gentleman of no military training or experience, was allowed to outrank Taylor in his own company, with which he had served since July, 1861.
It would be useless to attempt to conceal the fact that the appointment of the colonel of the regiment was exceedingly distasteful to the officers and men of the Battalion. No fault was found with the manner of organizing the three new companies, and the appointment of officers of these companies, for the good reasons that these officers had been active in the recruitment of their commands, and were doubtless acceptable to their men. The chief cause of grievance of the members of the Battalion, therefore, was, first, the colonelcy of the regiment, and, secondly, the action of Governor Andrew in filling the vacant offices in the seven old companies with new men, and ignoring the just claims to promotion of the old officers and enlisted men of those companies. The well-nigh unanimous sentiment of the Battalion would have dictated a very different election of the chief field-officer, and of several of the new officers of the line. All the new appointments would have been made from among the officers and men of the Battalion, of which there was abundant good material to select from; and on the score of actual service of nearly a year’s duration,—a service beginning at a very early period in the war, when all was darkness and doubt,—it cannot be denied that this sentiment was founded upon the plainest principles of equity. All the bickerings and heart-burnings which subsequently arose in the regiment can be directly traced to this action of our State officials; and to those who are familiar with the facts concerning this matter, it is cause of no little surprise, that the feeling of dissatisfaction thus produced did not result in far graver consequences.
During the winter of 1862, charges of improper conduct were preferred against Colonel Pierce. A court-martial convened,[25] and, upon trial, he was found guilty, and sentenced to dismissal from the service. General Mansfield approved of the findings of the court-martial; but General Wool, his superior, disapproved them, and Colonel Pierce was reinstated in his command of the regiment. With the feeling of a faithful historian, to record the facts as he finds them, the author, in telling the story of the regiment, has found it necessary to present this state of affairs, the responsibility for which would seem to rest upon the appointing power.
Some reference has been made to the Sawyer rifle at Camp Butler, in the course of this narrative, and now we are called upon to record a very serious accident in connection with this gun, which occurred on the 11th of February. The guns, of which there were two in the department, were the invention of a man named Sawyer. “His system consisted of cutting in the bore of the gun six radial twisted grooves half an inch deep and rather more than an inch wide from muzzle to breech. The twist was uniform, but the grooves were perhaps a trifle deeper near the breech than at the muzzle.” The shot was a cast-iron projectile, cylindro-conoidal in shape, and plated with lead. Both this gun and the one at the Rip-Raps had been frequently fired during the summer and autumn, and were found to possess great range and power. On the day referred to, a very distinguished party were visiting Newport News, consisting, among others, of the Secretary of War, Hon. Simon Cameron, Senator Henry Wilson, and Secretary Seward. For the entertainment of these visitors, the Sawyer gun, of which so much had been said, must of course be fired. It was for the last time, however, and the shot was to be a test one for extraordinary range. The gun was given its extreme elevation, 30°. This almost nullified the recoil, and caused the greatest possible strain on the walls of the gun. Officers, soldiers, and civilians had clustered around the bastion where the gun was mounted, with field-glasses in hand, to watch the opposite shore, in the expectation of seeing the shell burst there. The explosion was terrific. A portion of the breech, weighing several hundred pounds, was sent high into the air, but so slowly as to be visible in its ascent; and still another piece, weighing nearly three hundred and fifty pounds, which, in falling, struck Private James W. Sheppard of Company B, who but the day before had returned from his wedding furlough, and crushed him to the earth, killing him instantly. Smaller fragments of the gun struck and severely wounded Lieutenant Smith of Company I, and Privates John F. Hall and Seth W. Paty of Company E. Private Charles E. Jones of Company D, who was one of the gunners, was also instantly killed. Others still were injured by the concussion caused by the explosion, and made temporarily deaf. Captains Wilson and Clarke were standing at the time upon the parapet, about ten yards off, and a piece of the gun, weighing as much as a thousand pounds, flew over them, knocking off the hat of one of them, and striking the earth some twenty yards from the battery, partially buried itself in the ground.