A little more than three years before this day, these two officers, as Captains of companies A and K, both of Boston, were prominently engaged at Great Bethel, the first pitched battle of the Rebellion; and here, after all the vicissitudes of war, and a service peculiarly eventful, as Brigade Commander and Adjutant-General, they stood together on one of the bloodiest battle-fields of Virginia,—a field made famous alike by the valor of our soldiers and the revolutionary memories that clustered around the historic day.
The regiment went into this action with less than one hundred men, and suffered a loss of twenty-nine officers and men killed and wounded,—about one-third of its number. The following is a list of the casualties:—
KILLED.
First Sergeant Silas N. Grosvenor, Company C.
Color Sergeant John A. Tighe, Company K.
Sergeant and Acting Sergeant-Major William F. Willis and Corporal Richard Gurney, Company H.
Privates John C. Stewart and Martin Minton, Company B.
WOUNDED.
First Lieutenant George W. Pope, Company G, mortally.
First Lieutenant Charles A. Carpenter, Company H.
First Sergeant John Lucas, Company B, badly in wrist.
Sergeant H. B. Titus, Company G.
Sergeant John H. Hancock, Company H, arm shot off.
Corporal John M. Thompson, Company B, both legs broken, and afterwards died.
Corporal William H. Tindal and Musician James Liffin,[50] Company F.
Privates Thomas W. Cashman, Company A; Emery Hodgkins, Company B; William H. Burns, Joseph W. Glass, Napoleon Mason, John Harvey, Timothy Hayes, and George F. Browne, Company F; Daniel Whitmore, Richard Owen, Philip A. Lawall, Warren Crowell, and Edward Carney, Company G; William Jones, Company H; and William H. Howe, Company K.
It is said on good authority, that every third man in the attacking column was either killed or wounded, a fact that shows how sanguinary was the battle.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Movements After the Battle of June 17—Battle of the Mine—A List of Killed and Wounded—Various Movements of the Regiment—Death of Major Chipman—Battle of Blick’s House—Poplar Grove Church—A Reconnoissance—Colonel Barnes Leaves the Army.