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HISTORY 
 
 NINTH MASS. BATTERY. 
 
 Recruited July, 1862; Mustered ix Aug. 10, 1862; 
 
 Mustered out Jink 9, 1865, at the 
 
 Close of the Rebellion. 
 
 By LEVI W. BAKER, 
 
 MARLBORO, MASS. 
 
 Lafecnictu Press: 
 
 J. C. Clark Priming Co., South Framingham, Mass. 
 
 iSSS. 
 
 
 
ET5\3 
 
 tt 
 
 Uni v- of Mich. 
 
 APR 1 G 1940 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Introduction, 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 Outlook, Summer, 1862, 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 Lynnfield, ..... 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 Towns Represented, 
 
 
 
 
 1 1 
 
 Organization, 
 
 
 
 
 12-16 
 
 Readville, . 
 
 
 
 
 • r 7 
 
 Washington, 
 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 Camp Chace, 
 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 Camp Barry, 
 
 
 
 
 26 
 
 Hall's Hill, 
 
 
 
 
 • 34 
 
 Fort Ramsey, 
 
 
 
 
 • 37 
 
 Appointment of Capt 
 
 Bigelow, 
 
 
 
 44 
 
 Centerville, 
 
 
 
 
 • 5° 
 
 March to Gettysburg 
 
 
 
 
 • 53 
 
 Gettysburg, 
 
 Maj. McGilvery's Rei 
 
 5 ORT, 
 
 
 
 56-85, 194-203 
 . 72 
 
 Hospital Reminiscences, . 
 
 
 
 S5-90 
 
 Mine Run, ..... 
 
 
 
 91 
 
 Camp, Brandy Station, 
 
 
 
 93-106 
 
 Ely's Ford, .... 
 
 
 
 107 
 
 Wilderness and Spottsylvania, 
 
 
 
 108-111 
 
 North Anna, .... 
 
 
 
 112 
 
 Bethesda Church, 
 
 
 
 • 115 
 
 Tolopotomy Creek, 
 
 
 
 
 . 116 
 
IV 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Cool Arbor or Cold Harbor, 
 
 Charles City Court House, 
 
 Petersburg, 
 
 Gen. Chamberlain's Charge. 
 
 Fort Davis, 
 
 Weldon Railroad, 
 
 Fort Duchesne, 
 
 Hatcher's Run, October, 
 
 Island Camp, 
 
 Nottoway River and Sussex Court House, 
 
 Winter Quarters, 1864 and 1865, 
 
 Fort Rice, ..... 
 
 Maj. Bigelow's Farewell, 
 
 Hatcher's Run, February, 1865, 
 
 Ninth Corps, 
 
 Assault on Petersburg, 
 
 Nottoway Court House, 
 
 Gen. Lee's Surrender, 
 
 Artillery Reserve, City Point, 
 
 March to Alexandria, 
 
 Break Camp for Home, 
 
 Galloup's Island, 
 
 Death Roll, 
 
 Monuments, 
 
 Lieuts. Erickson and Whitaker and Sergt. Dodg 
 
 Adjutant General's Report, 
 
 Roster of Battery, . 
 
 Eighteenth Annual Reunion, February, 1888, 
 
 e, 
 
 117 
 119 
 120 
 52-130 
 I 3 I 
 I37-M3 
 J 43 
 147 
 148 
 
 l S3 
 
 156 
 
 J 57 
 
 iS9 
 
 161 
 
 166 
 167 
 169 
 
 171 
 
 J 73 
 174 
 179 
 182 
 194 
 210 
 L8-229 
 232 
 244 
 
 2 53 
 
INTRODUCTION- 
 
 Comrades: 
 
 It is twenty-one years since we last stood in line together 
 and were mustered out of the United States service. The 
 thirty-four months that we had been together are indel- 
 ibly recorded in our memories. Some of the battles are 
 written in blood. The marches, that sometimes left us so 
 weary that the bivouac blotted out all worth remembering; 
 the months of dull camp life, in winter quarters; the weeks 
 under shelter tents, facing the enemy, the hours of which 
 were struck by the booming of cannon and the bursting of 
 shell, and the minutes marked by the crack of rifles and zip 
 of minies, too close to be pleasant ; — all these are becoming 
 more and more indistinct to us ; but to some of us the 
 twinges from wounds, rheumatism, fever and ague, or dis- 
 eases that have become chronic, daily remind us that we 
 were there. 
 
 Because our memories are becoming more indistinct, I 
 have been induced to record some of the events prominent 
 in our history, that, when we all are no more, our children 
 
VI INTRODUCTION. - 
 
 may read and realize something of what their fathers did that 
 the Union might be preserved. 
 
 But few of the histories written are from the rank and file 
 of the army, but we hope that this will be received as a fair 
 account of the events as they occurred, and of the inner life 
 of the rank and file of the 9th Massachusetts Battery. 
 
 I am indebted to Maj. Bigelow, Capt. Milton, and W. B. 
 Pearce, for the use of the private papers of the Battery ; also 
 to many letters from Maj. Bigelow, W. B. Pearce, J. K. Nor- 
 wood, J. B. Stowe, J. H. Manning, Geo. Mader, and others ; 
 also to a file of letters in my possession, covering all the 
 time of the service of the Battery, except from July 4, 1863, 
 to December 12, 1863. The chronology of this history is all 
 from letters and papers written at the time, and must be 
 correct. 
 
 I am also under great obligation to our battery artists, 
 C. W. Reed, Richard Holland, and I. F. Eaton, who have so 
 finely illustrated this work. These illustrations have been 
 selected from a large number of original sketches in the 
 hands of these artists. 
 
 L. W. BAKER, 
 
 Marlboro, Mass. 
 October i, 1887. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 The spring and summer of '62 was a disheartening season 
 for the Union ; hopes had been blighted, and promised ad- 
 vances had resulted in retreats. A few cavalry expeditions 
 had been successful, but did not secure any lasting results. 
 
 All through the spring, Government had been promised 
 advances by the commander of the Army of the Potomac, 
 and it was continually advancing — farther and farther from 
 its goal, Richmond. Finally, in the extremity, Gen. Hallock 
 was called from the armies of the West, and placed in com- 
 mand of the armies of the East; and Gen. Pope, fresh from 
 won battlefields in the West, was appointed to the command 
 of the Army of Virginia, small and scattered ; and even he, 
 " used to seeing the backs of the enemy turned towards him 
 by his blows," was forced to retire before the whole force of 
 the Southern army, that again threatened Washington. 
 
 During this series of disasters, the Government called for 
 300,000 volunteers, and now we were beginning to realize 
 that enlisting meant hard marches, privation, hunger, fight- 
 ing, and death to many. Veterans were called from the front 
 
5 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 to organize regiments and batteries, and men of experience 
 were sought for to take command of organizations to be 
 formed. 
 
 About the middle of July, Capt. Achille De Vecchi, an 
 Italian, on leave from the Italian army, came to Boston. He 
 had been serving on the staff of Gen. Lane, in Missouri, but, 
 wishing a more active life, asked for a command. He was 
 sent to Gov. Andrew with letters commendatory (Gen. Lane 
 being an intimate friend of Gov. A.). He was received and 
 offered the command of the 33d Regiment, then forming as a 
 regiment of sharpshooters. As they were armed with 
 Springfield rifles, the same as other infantry, he declined, 
 and chose to organize a battery of light artillery, which, 
 under his instruction and leadership, was to be a model bat- 
 tery. He was joined by Christopher Erickson of Cambridge, 
 a Swede by birth, Alexander H. Whitaker of Boston, Geo. 
 W. Foster of Charlestown, Richard S. Milton of West 
 Roxbury, who were commissioned lieutenants, and many 
 others, who were promised warrants or places of prefer- 
 ment. 
 
 Capt. De Vecchi was a fine looking, portly man, could talk 
 well in broken English about artillery, had a soft hand to pat 
 the boys on the back, and his "gude bohys " were very fas- 
 cinating. C. Erickson had seen some artillery drill in a Bos- 
 ton battery. A. H. Whitaker was a good French scholar, 
 and could readily talk with Capt. De Vecchi and understand 
 him, and was his mouthpiece when his English failed him, as 
 it did sometimes. Many were led to enlist by the knowledge 
 of artillery displayed by him. A short time before the close 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 9 
 
 of enlistments, two men joined who had seen service in two 
 Massachusetts batteries. One, in giving an account of his 
 enlistment, said : " I thought I knew something of artillery 
 drill, but after hearing Capt. De Vecchi talk I thought by 
 joining I could learn all that the most accomplished artillery 
 officer need to know." 
 
 The first to enlist were George Murray, F. Ouaranti, and 
 
 Adolph Lipman, who enlisted July 17 ; D. P. Doyle, 
 
 U ^ Q. A. Merritt, M. Lastreco, Chas. A. Hall, the 18th ; 
 
 G. B. Morse, Geo. W. Carter, I. F. Eaton, Vincent Regalli, 
 
 r , n , John Cortipas, the 19th; and July 31 saw about 
 
 July 31. . 
 
 ninety men in camp 
 
 AT LYNNFIELD, MASS., 
 
 with no organization but a cookhouse, and no weapons 
 but a tin plate, quart dipper, sheet iron spoon, knife and 
 fork. 
 
 Our camp consisted of four Sibley tents, near the 33d Reg- 
 iment. Our cookhouse was presided over by a Frenchman, 
 and one of the first dinners I remember was a chowder, burnt 
 so much we could not eat it. The name, "burnt chowder" 
 clung to him as long as he remained in the Battery. He 
 was wounded at Gettysburg. 
 
 The 2d of August, we got our Battery tents, 
 All / 
 
 known as A tents, and pitched them at the south- 
 west corner of the field. The 4th of August, the first guard 
 was detailed. The writer has the original guard list, which is 
 as follows : L. W. Baker, acting sergeant of the guard ; first 
 
IO HISTORY OF THE 
 
 relief, C. A. Hall, A. Clement, A. Lipman, G. B. Morse, C. F. 
 Loring, V. Regalli, M. Lastreco, D. P. Doyle ; second relief, 
 O. A. Merritt, G. W. Carter, J. Gazzle, I. F. Eaton, L. Pinti, 
 F. C. Tucker, J. Crossan, J. J. Barry; third relief, A. Murphy, 
 J. McCarty, J. V. Huntress, H. Packard, D. Brett, C. L. 
 Sawin, M. Hatch, E. Currell. Who the acting corporals 
 were, I cannot tell. 
 
 About 5 P. M., the Captain arrived in camp for the first 
 time, and was received by the guard being turned out and 
 saluting him, which was the first military maneuver in our 
 camp. The same evening, at roll call, the Captain was pre- 
 sented with a fine saber, and belt of red leather, by his coun- 
 trymen here. There had been no restriction on the men so 
 far, and now commenced the execution of orders to keep the 
 men in camp, and many were the inmates of the guardhouse. 
 Guard duty was done with four old muskets that were never 
 cleaned, and the first day were filled with gravel and rammed 
 down. 
 
 Our first Sunday in camp was a new experience, 
 
 °' " to some at least. At 5 P. M., we were invited to 
 a brigade dress parade, in which the 32d, 33d and 34th 
 Regiments of infantry, a company of cavalry, and our com- 
 pany, took part; afterward a short religious service by the 
 chaplain of one of the regiments ; also singing, led by the 
 band. We had singing in our camp for the first time, in the 
 evening. 
 
 In previous enlistments, many of the organizations were 
 local in interest, and in many regiments the companies were 
 made up of men from one locality. At this time it was dif- 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 
 
 I I 
 
 ferent ; there were few towns that sent a dozen men who 
 were acquainted together, and onr own organization was an 
 example of this. Of 314 men on our books and muster-out 
 rolls, 73 were of 1st Mass. Battery, transferred to the 9th 
 February 28, 1865, whose history I do not know. The 241 
 men were from 35 towns and cities, of which 
 
 West Roxbury, Roxbury and Jamaica Plain 
 led with ...... 
 
 Boston, ....... 
 
 Cambridge, East Cambridge and Cambridgeport 
 
 Maiden, 
 
 Charlestown, ...... 
 
 Marlboro, ....... 
 
 the Bridgewaters, ..... 
 
 Concord, ....... 
 
 Somerville, ...... 
 
 Dennis, ....... 
 
 Easton, ....... 
 
 Lynn field, ...... 
 
 Lawrence, Melrose, Taunton, each 4, 
 
 Stoughton, Scituate, Brookline, each 3, 
 
 Weymouth, Newburyport, Worcester, Winthrop, 
 Salem, Brandy Station, each 2, . . . 
 
 Dartmouth, Southboro, Dedham, Weston, Ab- 
 ington, Sandwich, Upton's Hill, Duxbury, 
 Framingham, Blandford, Lynn, each 1, 
 
 42 
 34 
 24 
 20 
 
 15 
 
 14 
 
 13 
 
 9 
 
 8 
 
 7 
 6 
 
 5 
 12 
 
 9 
 
 12 
 
 1 1 
 
 241 
 
12 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Also, the ages of the men were as follows : 
 19 men were 18 years old. 21 men were 26 years old. 
 
 13 
 
 19 
 
 16 
 
 27 
 
 H 
 
 ' 20 ' 
 
 9 
 
 28 
 
 35 
 
 ' 21 
 
 ' 11 
 
 29 
 
 24 
 
 ' 22 
 
 15 
 
 30 
 
 34 
 
 23 
 
 34 
 
 31 to 35 " 
 
 20 
 
 24 
 
 27 
 
 ' 36 to 40 " 
 
 18 
 
 25 
 
 ' 10 
 
 41 to 47 " 
 
 Aug. 10. 
 
 August 10, we were mustered into the United 
 
 States service by Lieut. Elder, as the 9th Battery 
 Massachusetts Volunteers, to serve three years from the 
 date of muster in, unless sooner discharged. Achille De 
 Vecchi was mustered as captain, and Christopher Erickson, 
 A. H. Whitaker, Geo. W. Foster, and R. S. Milton as Lieu- 
 tenants, and the organization of the Battery was nearly as 
 follows when we commenced to drill : — 
 
 Organization of 9TH Massachusetts Battery, Septem- 
 ber 3, 1862. 
 
 Captain, Achille De Vecchi. 
 
 Chief of Caissons, Junior Second Lieutenant, Richard S. 
 Milton. . 
 
 Orderly Sergeant, George H. Prescott. 
 Quartermaster Sergeant, James W. Reed, Jr. 
 Guidon, Francis Quaranti. 
 Buglers, 1st, Chas. W. Reed; 2d, Orin Reynolds. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 
 
 13 
 
 Right 
 
 Senior First Lieutenant Chr 
 
 FIRST DETACHMENT. 
 
 Sergt., Wm. W. Snelling. 
 
 Gunner, John L. Fenton. 
 Corp., Isaac F. Eaton. 
 
 Gun Detachment. 
 No. 1, Henry Fen. 
 " 2, A. B. Smith. 
 " 3, Z. D. Nichols. 
 " 4, Chas. B. Nutting. 
 " 5, Alfred Clement, Jr. 
 " 6, Thos. Murry. 
 " 7, Adolph Lipman. 
 
 Piece Drivers. 
 Lead, Alfred Morse. 
 Swing, J. H. Nicholson. 
 Wheel, Samuel Toby. 
 
 Caisson Drivers. 
 Lead, Geo. Doherty. 
 Swing. John Buckman. 
 Wheel, Sam'l W. Barnard. 
 
 Extra. 
 Chas. Loring. 
 Jos. A. Chapin. 
 H. Z. Miles. 
 Henry A. Packard. 
 
 Section. 
 istopher Erickson, commanding. 
 
 SECOND DETACHMENT. 
 
 Sergt., Charles E. Dodge. 
 Gunner, W. L. Tucker. 
 Corp., Francis C. Tucker. 
 
 Gun Detachment. 
 No. I, Daniel P. Doyle. 
 " 2, John R. Martin. 
 " 3, Jas. M. Howland. 
 " 4, Stilson H. Dow. 
 " 5, Jos. Wilkinson, Jr. 
 " 6, Wm. J. Doe. 
 " 7, Eugene Tufts. 
 
 Piece Drivers. 
 Lead, Michael McCarroll. 
 Swing, Arthur Murphy. 
 Wheel, John Crossan. 
 
 ( 'aisson Drivers. 
 Lead, Peter Fisher, Jr. 
 Swing, Edwin Babson. 
 Wheel. Melville Hatch. 
 
 Extra. 
 John Scheibler. 
 W. H. Dawes. 
 Geo. Harris. 
 
14 history of the 
 
 Left Section. 
 Junior First Lieutenant Alexander H. Whitaker, commanding. 
 
 FIFTH DETACHMENT. 
 
 Sergt., John Cortipas. 
 Gunner, Vincent Regalli. 
 Corp., M. Lastreco. 
 
 Gun Detachment. 
 No. i, John Ligal. 
 
 2, Geo. W. Carter. 
 
 3, David Brett. 
 
 4, J. K. Norwood. 
 
 5, J. H. Wiley. 
 
 6, N. F. Cate. 
 
 7, Jesse Sherburn. 
 
 Piece Drivers. 
 Lead, James F. Gilson. 
 Swing, O. A. Merritt. 
 Wheel, R. C. Blaisdell. 
 
 Caisson Drivers. 
 Lead, Edwin Bollitho. 
 Swing, 
 Wheel, Geo. Ransom. 
 
 Extra. 
 Herman Jansen. 
 Louis Pinti. 
 John Gazzle. 
 
 SIXTH DETACHMENT. 
 
 Sergt., Jos. Akerman. 
 Gunner, Jos. Hirst. 
 Corp., L. N. Langeleer. 
 
 Gun Detachment. 
 No. i, Nelson Lowell. 
 " 2, L. W. Baker. 
 " 3, Jas. L. Clapp. 
 " 4, Richard Holland. 
 " 5, Zimri Whitney. 
 " 6, John B. Stowe. 
 " 7, Elbridge Wilkins. 
 
 Piece Drivers. 
 Lead, Hiram W. Fay. 
 Swing, H. H. Burdett. 
 Wheel, Eleazer Call. 
 
 Caisson Drivers. 
 Lead, Albert Taylor. 
 Swing, John A. Fulsom. 
 Wheel, Chas. Tibbets. 
 
 Extra. 
 Stephen H. Goodwin. 
 Edwin R. Knapp. 
 Jas. E. Kimball. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY, 
 
 •5 
 
 Augustus Hessie. 
 Jos. R. Brown. 
 Edward Rouse. 
 
 R. B. Rico. 
 Wm. II . Stron-. 
 John Q. Adams. 
 Henry F. Nash. 
 
 Centre Section. 
 Senior Second Lieutenant Geo. W. Foster, commanding. 
 
 THIRD DETACHMENT. 
 
 Sergt., Geo. Murray. 
 Gunner, John V. Huntress. 
 Corp., Chas. H. Hall. 
 
 Gun Detachment. 
 
 No. I, John A. McCarty. 
 
 2, Chas. A. Guinn. 
 
 3, Charles A. Hall. 
 
 4, John H. Sullivan. 
 
 5, John W. McDonald. 
 
 6, Reuben L. Willis. 
 
 7, Walter Lea. 
 
 Piece Drivers. 
 Lead, James McDavitt. 
 Swing, Sam. C. Glover. 
 Wheel, Nathan H. Brand. 
 
 Caisson Drivers. 
 Lead, Horace Prescott. 
 Swing, G. F. W. Haynes. 
 Wheel, H. C. Knight. 
 
 FOURTH DETACHMENT. 
 
 Sergt., John II. Whittemore. 
 Gunner, Levi Lincoln. 
 Corp., Henry A. Hills. 
 
 Gun Detachment. 
 
 No. i, Stephen N. Parker. 
 
 " 2, Enoch B. Lord. 
 
 " 3, B. E. Murray. 
 
 " 4, W. H. Hunson. 
 
 " 5, John H. Manning. 
 
 " 6, Wm. Park, Jr. 
 
 " 7, J. P. Ayers. 
 
 Piece Drivers. 
 Lead, L. J. Sanderson. 
 Swing, E. F. Currell. 
 Wheel, D. J. I larmond. 
 
 ( 'aisson Drivers. 
 I ,ead, Jas. Dalton. 
 Swing, Thomas Sprague. 
 Wheel, John C. Woodard. 
 
i6 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Extra. 
 John W. Byrnes. 
 John J. Barry. 
 Henry Packard. 
 A. A. Spalding. 
 Chas. Simmings. 
 Geo. W. Stafford. 
 Chas. L. Sawin. 
 Gardner Garry. 
 
 Geo. B. Morse. 
 Jas. A. Harvey. 
 
 Bartlett C. Edson. 
 
 Jas. Whitney. 
 
 Chas. B. Lord. 
 
 Extra. 
 F. L. Kenniston. 
 Geo. A. Tucker. 
 Samuel Whittemore. 
 Geo. F. Boston. 
 John U. Allen. 
 O. C. Hussy. 
 Wm. B. Pearce. 
 
 Artificers. 
 
 Forge Drivers. 
 
 Battery Wagon Drivers. 
 
 Daniel B. Jenness. 
 
 Ambulance Driver. 
 Warren H. Trask. 
 
 Cooks. 
 
 Officers' Cook. 
 Nahum A. Doe. 
 
 Care of Officers^ Horses. 
 
 John H. Kelley. 
 
 Teamsters. 
 
 Marsena L. Martin. 
 Thos. Fisher. 
 
 Emerson A. Noyes. 
 
 Austin Packard. 
 
 Henry F. Dearborn. 
 
 Chas. H. Brickett. 
 5 officers; 150 enlisted men. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. I J 
 
 August 14, at 4 A.M., reveille sounded, our 
 
 Auiv 14. 
 
 knapsacks were packed, tents struck, and early we 
 left Camp Stanton for Camp Meigs, 
 
 READVILLE, MASS., 
 
 arriving about 1 o'clock, and before night our camp is laid 
 out and tents pitched. Our camp was on a fine, dry, level 
 field beside the Providence Railroad, and the side of the field 
 farthest from the carriage road. 
 
 Before the Battery was organized, William Snelling and 
 Joseph Akerman, two men who had seen service, gravitated 
 towards the flanks of the Battery, and each had his circle of 
 retainers ; and in the organization they were given the right 
 and left detachments, and the detachments were formed 
 pretty much as the men had grouped themselves together. 
 Capt. De Vecchi took command here, and all commenced' 
 preparations for active service. The officers hired a French- 
 man, master of the broadsword, to teach them the broadsword 
 exercise. The Battery drills were entirely foot, and detach- 
 ment, section and company formation. Sergt. Akerman had 
 a dummy gun built, and his detachment commenced the 
 school of the piece in loading and firing, which was followed 
 by the right detachment. It proved to be a great help to us. 
 There was something new every day, and many visitors came 
 to camp. 
 
 August 16, the Company were presented with a 
 
 beautiful set of colors by the ladies of West Rox- 
 
 bury, and they were received by a salute of ten guns. At 
 
1 8 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the same time the 16th Maine Regiment were on the cars 
 beside our camp, and responded with cheers. 
 
 Before we came here our cookhouse was in a bad way, and 
 on arrival at this camp, James Whitney was detailed com- 
 pany cook, and each detachment was to detail one man to be 
 excused from all other duty to assist him. The first day, E. 
 Wilkins of the sixth detachment, and John W. McDonald of 
 the third detachment, with others, were detailed. At fatigue 
 call they reported at the cookhouse, and after cutting some 
 wood and bringing some water, they began to leave one at a 
 time, except Wilkins and McDonald, who commenced to pick 
 over one half bushel of beans. Soon an apple woman came 
 near. "Want to buy some apples?" — "No." — "Want 
 anything else ? " — " No." Says Wilkins to McDonald, " She 
 has some whisky." Says McD. to W., " I'll find out." " Look 
 here, Granny, what do you ask for your apples ? " and trying 
 to select some, says, " Got some whisky ? " Says Granny, 
 "Want some?" McD., "Yes." And she began to work at 
 the waist of her dress, and soon a bottle dropped to the 
 ground. " Fifty cents " — and so rank he could not drink it. 
 
 The camp began to fill up with other regiments and bat- 
 teries, and we had to be more particular about guard duty, 
 and many men lay in the guardhouse for running guard. 
 Soon after we came here, one of the corporals was arrested 
 for drunkenness and lost his chevron. The last Sabbath we 
 were here, a detachment of us under Lieut. Erickson went to 
 Dedham to church, which maneuver was successfully exe- 
 cuted. In the evening a small party got passes and went to 
 Hyde Park, and several took part in a prayer meeting there. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 19 
 
 A large number of men on the left made Sergt. Akerman 
 a present of a saber, belt, brace of revolvers, and dirk knife, 
 
 in appreciation of his zeal in caring for his men, and in 
 teaching them the drill of the piece. He was very popular 
 at the left of the Battery. 
 
 About the 28th of August, we had about one hundred 
 horses assigned to us, but only one came to camp. 
 
 As most of us were working men, and used to seeing 
 work progress and things accomplished, we were weary at 
 the light duties and slow progress we were making and much 
 discontent was manifested, and when the time came that 
 orders were issued to pack up, we were ready to go. 
 
 With twenty-four hours' rations of ham, and four hard 
 
 tack, we started, at 1. 30 P. M., September 3, on 
 
 S6Dt 3 
 ^ ' the Providence railroad. We were escorted from 
 
 camp by the nth Massachusetts Battery, and detachments 
 of the 42d, 43d and 44th Regiments, and were cheered as we 
 went on board of the cars. Before we started, a detail of 
 twenty men had been made to take the horses and care for 
 them, and when we arrived at Groton, we went on board the 
 steamer Commonwealth with our horses and started for New 
 York. Part of the horses were picketed to both sides of a 
 rope stretched across the bow of the boat. Here Nelson 
 Lowell was on guard, and showed such capacity in manag- 
 ing horses that it resulted in his being appointed stable 
 sergeant afterward. One horse died on the passage, other- 
 wise we arrived in New York safely. We went to Jersey 
 City and remained there till 1 P. M., September 4. 
 ' ' We had dinner of soup, bread and coffee. We 
 
20 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 arrived in Philadelphia about 9 P. M., and had supper at the 
 " Soldiers' Rest." There were about eight persons there, men, 
 ladies and children, and we had a bountiful supper of cold 
 meat, bread, butter, cheese, salad and coffee. We did justice 
 to the fare, thanked the ladies, and left. We passed through 
 the city to the Philadelphia & Baltimore railroad, and at 
 12.30 A. M. started for Baltimore. Arrived at Havre de 
 Grace at 7 A. M. the 5th, and barely escaped having a car- 
 load of horses run into the river. 
 
 The roads beyond New York are single track, and our 
 progress was slow. At Gunpowder Bridge we saw the first 
 signs of war — blockhouses at each end of the bridge, and an 
 armed sentry there. We passed over three fourths of the 
 bridge, when a truck broke near the centre of the train, and 
 was stopped in about 400 feet. One pair of wheels were 
 dragged lengthwise on a single plank 150 yards, till stopped, 
 and so saved throwing the rear half of the train into the 
 river, where the water was from six to fifteen feet deep. The 
 horses in the wrecked car were jumped into the water, and 
 swam to the shore. We lost one horse here, badly bruised. 
 They were reloaded and we went on to Baltimore, arriving 
 about 5 P. M. Found the city full of rumors of Jackson 
 crossing the Potomac. The Secesh in the city were elated 
 and saucy. We remained in the cars till night, then crossed 
 the city to the Baltimore & Ohio depot, and bivouacked on 
 the platform for the night. We were in no condition to fight 
 our way through the city, like the 6th Regiment, as we had 
 no arms but six sabers and a few revolvers, but we were 
 given a company of infantry for guard that night. About 12 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY, 
 
 21 
 
 Sept. 6. 
 
 M., the 6th of September, we started for Washing- 
 ton, and at night we were unloaded at the corrals. 
 
 ,:n 
 
 
 Some stayed in them, and some slept in an adjoining grave- 
 yard. The morning of the 7th finds us in 
 
 WASHINGTON, 
 
 tired and sore from our hard beds, but we take up our line of 
 march for East Capitol Hill, and commeneed making our 
 
22 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 camp about east of the Capitol, one and one half miles 
 distant. The ground here is so hard from the continued 
 tread of soldiers, that we have to make a hole to drive a 
 tent pin. 
 
 We at once commenced the work of equipment, and here 
 those two men, sergeants of the right and left detachments, 
 made themselves very useful : one, in making proper requisi- 
 tions, and the other in getting them filled. Sergt. Akerman 
 always got what he was sent after, and many knots of red 
 tape has he untied by his push and energy. Some of the 
 boys had some fun when the mule teams were drawn, as the 
 mules were caught with a lasso and given to them with only 
 a halter on them. Then they had to harness and get back to 
 camp. 
 
 The 1 8th of September, we went to the arsenal 
 v ' ' at Washington for our guns, three-inch rifled Rod- 
 mans. As we were leaving, one horse on the left or sixth 
 caisson became unmanageable, and threw the swing driver, 
 John A. Fulsom, and Sergt. Akerman and some horses, in a 
 heap together. Akerman was about again in a few days, but 
 Fulsom went to the hospital, and never returned to the 
 Battery. He was discharged January, 1863. 
 
 September 7, the first order for promotion was read. Capt. 
 De Vecchi had directed that one man from each section 
 should be selected, and the sergeant major was to draw lots 
 for the promotion. Some of the lieutenants and sergeants 
 advised another course, which was followed, and the promo- 
 tion was in the detachment where the vacancy occurred, and 
 L. W. Baker was promoted to be corporal. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 23 
 
 We soon had a chance to see some of those who had been 
 campaigning. An Indiana battery came in camp near us. 
 The}' were the hardest looking set of men we had ever seen, 
 and through the whole time of service never saw anything 
 worse. Some had on shirts, all had pants, some hats, some 
 caps, some boots, some shoes, some one each ; all were ex- 
 tremely dirty. The same of horses and harnesses. Each 
 man did his own cooking. 
 
 The air is full of rumors : that Jackson has crossed the 
 Potomac, that the railroad to Baltimore is occupied by the 
 Rebels, that spies have been in our camp. One day a minie 
 ball struck in our camp ; one man thought somebody was 
 trving to shoot him, and others helped him in thinking so. 
 Three mounted civilians were seen near our camp, and were 
 arrested by a squad of cavalry. At night the officers feared 
 horse thieves, and a double guard was posted and armed with 
 revolvers. 
 
 Between Baltimore and Washington a contraband joined 
 us and came to this camp. He was seen to have a watch one 
 day, the next it was missing. J. B. Stowe had lost one. The 
 orderly sergeant and one of the artificers, and some others, 
 took him to a tree and proposed to hang him if he did not 
 produce the watch. He promised to do it, and under a guard 
 he went and brought it from its hiding-place. It was the lost 
 watch. He was turned over to the city police. 
 
 The first Sabbath in this place. First Lieut. Erickson led 
 in a religious service, assisted by some others of the Battery. 
 A short time after, one man, who has acted strange ever 
 since he enlisted, was found in a crazy fit. He thought he 
 
24 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ought to be a chaplain. Some of the boys helped him along 
 in it, and a petition was started for his appointment. A bur- 
 lesque order was read one night, appointing him chaplain of 
 the 9th Mass. Battery. The next Sabbath he held service, 
 and for about one fourth hour conducted service by reading 
 from the Bible and Episcopal service book, and occupied 
 about three minutes in his sermon, when he was exhausted of 
 material and stopped. This was the last of this affair. 
 
 We are all equipped and have been drilling in battery drill 
 every day, making good progress in the field, much better 
 than in detail work, and later we had to commence anew on 
 that and follow it up. There was some rivalry between the 
 section commanders as to who should have the best appearing 
 section, and many were the long discussions between the 
 lieutenants as to the proper way to make certain formations, 
 and both Sergts. Snelling and Akerman had a chance to show 
 all they knew about artillery drill, and their lieutenants were 
 not slow in getting from them all they knew. 
 
 CAMP CHACE, VA. 
 
 Orders came for us to go to the Virginia side, and Sep- 
 tember 22 we pack up, march through Washington, 
 
 ^ " ' over Long Bridge, to Arlington Heights, to a camp 
 in the defences of Washington. Gen. Briggs, of the 10th 
 Mass. Regiment, was in command, and we were rather 
 short of elbow room. Our guns were parked at close 
 intervals, and we were surrounded by infantry except on 
 the south. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 25 
 
 We commence drilling in earnest, and are usually in the 
 field from 8 to 11.30 A.M., and drill in camp from 2 to 5 
 P.M. Sergt. Akerman drilled his detachment in dismount- 
 ing the piece and limber, and we became quite proficient in 
 it, although it was not in the regular drill. 
 
 Soon after we came here, we exchanged the guns in the 
 centre section for brass twelve-pounders. In this camp, from 
 sunset to retreat, there was something going on all the time. 
 One tent of Charlestown firemen run the machine to fires, 
 and woe to the man who was in their way. 
 
 A great many men thought we were not getting our 
 rations, and some letters went to Massachusetts that caused 
 an investigation by the officers in camp, and many men were 
 called up to headquarters and examined about it. A petition 
 was supposed to have been circulated in camp. John J. 
 Byrnes, Austin Packard, and Elbridge Wilkins were cooks at 
 this time, and were doing well, and were gaining in experi- 
 ence. The weather was hot and flies plenty, and it was hard 
 to keep fresh meat. One day, by accident, a piece was 
 served blown, and one man, Geo. Carter, found a piece and 
 carried it to headquarters and complained of it ; said we had 
 a good deal of such stuff. The officer of the day went to 
 the cookhouse and found that it was not seen by the cooks, 
 and they would not serve any blown meat if they knew it. 
 One of the cooks asked to be relieved from the cookhouse, 
 and James E. Kimball was appointed cook. He proved to 
 be the right man in the right place, and served through the 
 war as company cook. Just at this time there was a move- 
 ment of troops that took the attention from rations, and this 
 3 
 
26 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 was the last we heard of the trouble for some time. After 
 our camp was quiet, a change was made in our rations. Each 
 detachment had a cook, and had its rations served in full to 
 them. 
 
 October 13, there is a record preserved of rations 
 drawn in sixth detachment for twenty-four men for 
 six days : 105 lbs. salt beef, 40 lbs. salt pork, 12 lbs. coffee, 
 18 lbs. sugar, 2 qts. molasses, 4% qts. vinegar, 6 qts. beans, 
 6 lbs. rice, 6 lbs. soap, \)/ 2 lbs. candles, 24 loaves of bread 
 per day. 
 
 Most of the troops left this camp, and we had marching 
 orders. Taking overcoats and blankets, we went about one 
 eighth of a mile west, and went in battery and lay all night. 
 The ambulance was with us, headed toward Washington. 
 Capt. De Vecchi lay in that all night. 
 
 October 25, W. B. Pearce appointed company clerk. 
 
 October 26, we get marching orders, and the 27th 
 Oct 26 > & & / 
 
 break camp, and go back over Long Bridge to 
 
 CAMP BARRY, MD, 
 
 the new artillery camp, one and one half miles northeast of 
 Washington, at the toll-gate on the Bladensburg road. We 
 found in camp the 10th and nth Mass., H, Rhode Island, 
 and the 17th New York is to come here. The camp is under 
 command of Maj. Munroe, of H, R. I. This camp is lately 
 established, is directly under the supervision of Gen. Barry, 
 and the instruction is intended to be thorough, for officers as 
 well as men. 
 
 \ 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 2*] 
 
 Glanders got into our Battery, and several horses died, 
 and one or more was shot. It was said that one lieutenant 
 fired sixteen shots into one horse and did not bring him 
 down. Several months after, said lieutenant was officer of 
 the day, and one of the men had got too much raw commis- 
 sary, and was very noisy, and told the officer : " I no 'fraid 
 of you. You shoote sixteen times and no hit a horse." 
 
 October 30, some of the boys brought in camp a lot of cab- 
 bages, turnips and potatoes, and got a piece of corned beef, 
 and kettle at the cookhouse, and about 1 o'clock A.M. we 
 had a plate of good boiled dinner. We thought it the best 
 we ever ate. 
 
 The story is told that November 1, in the evening, a pig 
 was brought in camp, and three quarters of it was roasted 
 and eaten before morning, and one quarter carried to head- 
 quarters and laid on the mess-table. There had been no 
 pains taken to cover tracks, and early in the morning a 
 policeman appeared and looked around our camp sharply, but 
 no bones or offal could he find ; no one knew anything about 
 it, but said perhaps he might find something at headquarters. 
 He found the quarter, and Captain had to pay for the pig. 
 "By tarn, those Yankee boys." 
 
 At another time, two men brought a pig to camp, but were 
 so commissarily tired that they fell down near the park. The 
 guard made some disturbance, and Captain went down to see 
 what was up. He saw the trio lying side by side, and, turn- 
 ing away, said : " Me no see pig." 
 
 Before we came to this camp, we were in the defences 
 of Washington, in camp with infantry and under infantry 
 
28 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 officers as brigade commanders, and we were left to our- 
 selves. Now we are in camp with artillery only, and soon 
 after Maj. Munroe took command he issued the following 
 order : — 
 
 Artillery Headquarters, Camp Barry, 
 Washington, D. C, Nov. 3, 1862. 
 General Order No. 2. 
 
 I. Until further orders, the following will be observed as the 
 order of daily duties : 
 
 Reveille, ....... Sunrise. 
 
 Breakfast, .... Immediately after Reveille. 
 
 Sick Call, ) tt , £ , ,. 
 
 0i , , ,-, ',, >■ . . . . Half an hour after. 
 Stable Call, ) 
 
 Guard Mounting, ..... 8.30 o'clock. 
 
 Boots and Saddles (Section or Battery Drill), 9.00 o'clock. 
 
 Watering Call, ..... 1 1.30 o'clock. 
 
 Dinner Call, . . . . 12.00 o'clock. 
 
 Drill Call (Standing Gun or Marching Drill), 2.00 o'clock. 
 
 Recall, ....... 4.00 o'clock. 
 
 Stable Call, water before grooming, 4.00 to 5.00 o'clock. 
 
 Retreat, ....... Sunset. 
 
 Tattoo, ....... 8.00 o'clock. 
 
 Taps, ....... 8.30 o'clock. 
 
 Commanding officers will see that the foregoing is strictly ob- 
 served, and that no duties are performed other than at the proper 
 time. 
 
 If. Roll calls will take place at Reveille, Retreat and Tattoo. 
 There will also be a roll call of drivers at Stable and Watering 
 Call. 
 
 III. In companies where no kitchen is established, company 
 cooks will be appointed immediately, whose duty it will be to see 
 that meals are provided promptly at the specified time. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 29 
 
 IV. At Drill Calls, companies will be drilled either at the man- 
 ual of the piece or in marching. The buglers will assemble at a 
 place to be designated hereafter and practice until Recall. 
 
 V. No call will be sounded in camp except those specified ; 
 which, with the exception of meal calls, will -first be sounded from 
 Headquarters to be repeated by the buglers throughout the com- 
 mand. After Retreat, the bugle will be sounded in no case what- 
 ever, except for Tattoo and Taps. At Taps, every enlisted man 
 will be in quarters, and immediately after, all lights in quarters will 
 be extinguished ; all noise, talking, laughing, etc., will cease. The 
 battery officer of the day, in each company, will pay special atten- 
 tion to the sounding of the bugle and to the observance of Taps ; 
 will direct his guard to order lights out and noise to cease promptly 
 at the bugle call. In cases of the violation of this order, and when 
 the order of the sentinels is disregarded, he will cause the arrest of 
 the offender immediately. 
 
 VI. All orders received will be read at Retreat; company 
 orders also will be published at that time. 
 
 VII. It will be the duty of the officer of the day to see that this 
 order is fully carried out in every respect. He will attend all roll 
 calls, superintend all stable duties, take charge of the company at 
 Drill Call (if a standing gun drill), visit the company kitchen at 
 least once a day, and inspect the cooking utensils, method of 
 cooking, etc. 
 
 J. ALBERT MUNROE, 
 
 Major R. I. Artillery, 
 
 Commanding. 
 
 Some of the men were rather lawless about obeying 
 orders. An order was issued forbidding" the men to mount 
 or dismount without orders. One day, after drill, the drivers 
 rode to the picket rope, and one sergeant forgot to repeat the 
 order, " Dismount," and one driver sat several minutes 
 waiting the order. Officer of the day asked why he sat 
 there, and he was ordered to sit there till retreat. 
 
30 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 It is amusing to look back at the rumors we heard in 
 camp ; first we were going to Newbern, then Charleston, 
 then New Orleans, and with Banks to Texas. 
 
 When we first came in camp, we were inspected by Gen. 
 Barry. It was the first thorough inspection we ever had. 
 Gen. B. told our officers they had better study the book more 
 — " It will not hurt you to study evenings." 
 
 November n, the following order was issued: — 
 
 Headquarters Camp Artillery, Instruction Camp Barry, 
 
 November n, 1862. 
 General Order No. 6. ( Extract.) 
 
 IV. A school of instruction will be established through the 
 camp at once, recitations taking place three times a week. Cap- 
 tains will recite to the commanding officer Mondays, Wednesdays 
 and Fridays, at 7.30 o'clock P. M. Subalterns will recite to the 
 commanding officer of their respective companies, and non-com- 
 missioned officers to their chiefs of sections. First sergeants and 
 quartermaster sergeants will not be excused, but will recite to the 
 chiefs of the right and left sections of their companies. 
 
 J. ALBERT MUNROE, 
 
 Commanding. 
 
 It would seem that this order was changed in practice 
 somewhat, as the following is related by an officer who was 
 present : " A school of artillery was established here, and a 
 general order required all the officers to be present at head- 
 quarters at 7.30 P. M. Capt. De Vecchi took no notice of 
 the order. He was informed he was expected to be there, 
 and the third time he understood the order and prepared 
 himself accordingly. Promptly at the hour, in full uniform, 
 side arms, and mounted, with orderly, he appeared at the 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 3 1 
 
 tent, ioo yards from his own. Dismounting, he entered, to 
 find the officers of the brigade and his own lieutenants sitting 
 around in fatigue dress. Looking around in apparent aston- 
 ishment, he said : ' What, no uniform ? In my countree 
 artillaree school we have in full uniform.' When asked some 
 question, he spoke in French so fast and fluently that no one 
 was any wiser for it." He was not expected at school again. 
 
 While in this camp, Capt. De Vecchi tried to impress on 
 Gen. Barry the importance of arming the cannoneers with 
 carbines. He had the company clerk copy from a French 
 manual and arrange a carbine drill, and had the manuscript 
 beautifully bound and presented it to Gen. Barry. 
 
 We are drilling in the field all the time when the weather 
 is suitable. Sometimes we are put through rather rough 
 drill. Our record shows that November I we went in battery 
 by section over a very rough place — ditches, holes and 
 banks — and the cannoneers were mounted on the chests 
 during the maneuver. An axle on one of the guns in right 
 or centre section was broken, and the gunner was ordered to 
 change it; and we have the story in his own language, as 
 follows : " On returning to camp, the Captain ordered me to 
 take one of the mule teams and to go to Washington and 
 change the broken for a new carriage. I reported at the 
 arsenal, only to be laughed at ; at this I got mad, and, to 
 make still more fun of me, the clerk advised me to go up to 
 Gen. Ripley's office. I did not see his meaning, so rode up 
 to the War Department and went upstairs. The orderly 
 took my name and business in to the General, who bade me 
 wait. When he was ready he called the orderly, who took 
 
32 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 me in. The old, kindly-looking General said, ' Well, my son, 
 what can I do for you ? ' I replied, ' I think I am out of 
 order, but having come so far, I will state my case,' which I 
 did. He asked me who was the commanding officer, and all 
 about him, and told me what ought to have been done, and 
 what must be done. He then took a scrap of paper and 
 wrote, ' Deliver this man what he wants,' and signed his 
 name, saying, 'I guess this will fix you, and give my compli- 
 ments to the Captain and request him to forward the proper 
 vouchers.' With this I returned to the arsenal, got a car- 
 riage, and went back to camp and got another dreadful 
 cursing for being so stupid." 
 
 November 7 we had the first snowstorm. There was four 
 inches on the ground at one time. 
 
 November 10, George W. Stafford of Lawrence 
 
 NOV. 10. .. , . . . . , . 
 
 died at hospital in the city : the first death we 
 
 have had. The following is on file with Battery papers : — 
 
 The members of the 9th Mass. Battery, desiring to testify to the 
 virtues of their deceased friend and fellow soldier, George W. Staf- 
 ford, at an informal meeting of this corps, 
 
 Resolved, That we have learned with sentiments of profound 
 emotion the death of our friend, George W. Stafford, a member of 
 this company ; and while with feelings of deep sorrow we realize 
 that he is no more to meet us on earth, we desire to offer our con- 
 solations to those to whom he was nearer and dearer than to us, 
 with whom the years of his youth and manhood have been passed. 
 We and they have the satisfaction of knowing that he came here to 
 brave the dangers and diseases of a soldier's life from a strong 
 conviction of duty alone, and he has thus died, fulfilling his duty 
 to God, to his country, and to civilization. 
 
 Camp Barry, Washington, D. C, Nov. 14, 1862. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 33 
 
 November 15. A general inspection is ordered for tomor- 
 row at 9.30 o'clock ; the nth Mass., 12th Xevv York, and 9th 
 Mass. are to be inspected by Maj. Munroe. He was very 
 thorough in his questioning, and the non-ccmvi'ssioned "offi- 
 cers were asked many things we were never taught, but we 
 passed very well, as results showed. Maj. Munroe told two 
 lieutenants that one of the 9th Battery gunners passed the 
 best examination of any one in the three batteries. 
 
 We can all see that we have made progress in the three 
 weeks and two days we have been in this camp ; both officers 
 and non-commissioned officers have learned their duties, and 
 it is much easier for all the men. The horses now are well 
 broken in to their work. Disease breaking out among them, 
 called for the best man over the stables, and Nelson Lowell 
 was appointed stable sergeant; feed was now regular, and 
 soon glanders was driven out. New men were in the cook- 
 house, and our rations were better prepared. 
 
 November 19, about 9 A.M., as we were leaving 
 
 Nov. 19. . . . 
 
 the park for drill, an order came, directing us to 
 
 report to Gen. Abercrombie. ( Special Order No. g.) Again 
 
 we reduce our baggage, as we have collected in this camp 
 
 many conveniences and things to make us comfortable, 
 
 which we had to abandon and take only our regulation 
 
 baggage. 
 
 About noon we are ready to start, but we have to leave 
 
 some quartermaster and commissary stores and baggage, and 
 
 Lieut. Foster, with Quartermaster Reed, Company Clerk 
 
 Pearce, with some others, were left behind and followed us 
 
 the next clay. 
 
34 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 It commenced raining in the forenoon, and by the time we 
 passed through Washington and Georgetown the gutters 
 were quite well filled. We did not march at our posts, but 
 the'c-est wav we :v)uld to keep up with our pieces, and we got 
 pretty well soaked. One man was afraid he would get lost, 
 and jumped on the spare wheel; in turning a corner the 
 wheel turned — as they sometimes will when anything is on 
 the upper side — and the man was shot off head first into the 
 gutter. 
 
 We crossed at Chain Bridge and climbed Hall's Hill, over 
 new roads two miles, and bivouacked about dark. Some of 
 our teams did not get in till 9 o'clock. We made a shelter 
 of rails and tarpaulin and slept well, till a rail fell down on 
 the face of one man, which made some loud talk. Rails were 
 plenty and fires also. 
 
 HALL'S HILL. 
 
 In the morning we moved our camp farther up the hill, 
 and pitched our tents and tried to be comfortable, but could 
 not as it rained all day and the night following. At daylight 
 the sight was gloomy ; our horses were picketed to the guns 
 and caissons, and they were in the midst of a circle of mud 
 and water, and as the guards went their rounds they found 
 the pummels of some saddles sticking up and some bridles 
 floating around in the pools. We are now under Gen. Aber- 
 crombie's command. 
 
 November 21, at q A.M., we had orders to strike 
 « our tents, take tents and one day's rations; and 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 35 
 
 at i P. M. the right and left sections left for Fort Ramsey, 
 Upton's Hill, under command of Lieut. Erickson. A hard, 
 muddy march, but we arrived at the fort at 3 P. M. and 
 camped inside at night. It was fair and cold, but we had 
 plenty of wood, and our campfires were enjoyed by Lieuts. 
 Erickson and Whitaker and the men, who all tried to make 
 things comfortable. The night was cold, and we did not 
 sleep much ; some lay on the ground around the fire, some in 
 the magazine. In the morning the ground was frozen quite 
 hard. 
 
 November 22. In the morning a corporal (the writer) was 
 sent back to Hall's Hill with twelve pairs of horses, and the 
 centre section and baggage came up. During the day the 
 right section hauled out and went to Fort Buffalo, an outpost 
 beyond the Leesbury and Alexandria turnpike. The order 
 for our removal was : — 
 
 Headquarters Abercrombie's Division, 
 November 21, 1862. 
 Special Order No. 28. 
 
 I. The 9th Battery Mass. Vols., Capt. Achille De Vecchi com- 
 manding, will proceed forthwith to Upton's Hill. Capt. De Vecchi 
 will report to Col. Wm. Gurney, commanding 3d Brigade of this 
 Division, who will assign him his position. 
 
 By order of Brig. Gen. Abercrombie, commanding Division, 
 
 J. A. SLIPPER, 
 
 A. A. G. 
 
 The only apparent reason why we did not all go together 
 as ordered, is the bad roads. The two sections that went 
 first were in light marching order, and the teams of the other 
 and baggage were re-enforced when they came up. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 2)7 
 
 FORT RAMSEY, VA. 
 
 As this is the place of a five months' camp, let us locate it. 
 Fort Ramsey is on Upton's Hill, beside a road from George- 
 town by way of Ball's Crossroads to Falls Church. Wash- 
 ington is in sight to the east, and Bull Run Mountains in the 
 west, Miner's Hill on the north, Munson's Hill on the south. 
 Washington eight miles, and Ball's Crossroads one and one 
 half miles, east; Fort Buffalo one half mile, Bull Run Moun- 
 tains twenty miles, west ; Miner's Hill one mile north ; Falls 
 Church one mile northwest ; Munson's Hill one mile, and 
 Bailey's Crossroads, one and one half miles, south. Of 
 troops, there was a brigade at Miner's Hill, in which was the 
 40th Mass. Regiment, and a brigade near Fort Ramsey of 
 New York troops, the 124th and 6th among them. Lieuts. 
 Erickson and Milton are at Fort Buffalo, and the quarters of 
 the men are inside the fort. At Fort Ramsey, Capt. De 
 Vecchi and Lieuts. Whitaker and Foster are in the fort, but 
 our caissons, stable and camp are outside, east of the fort. 
 
 We built a stable of logs, roofed with boards, and stock- 
 aded our tents, so that by December 10 we were in comfort- 
 able quarters, all having fireplaces in them. In front of the 
 left section was a campfire that was built as soon as we went 
 there, and was kept up till the middle of December, and sweet 
 potatoes were never better than when baked under that fire. 
 Between our park and the road was a sutler's tent kept by 
 an Italian, who used to make two pies of one apple, and sell at 
 twenty-five cents apiece. He kept cake, apples, tobacco, and 
 some whisky. We did not like him, as we may see later. 
 
38 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Some of the boys had Thanksgiving boxes from home, and 
 enjoyed a dinner from them with Virginia sweet potatoes. 
 
 
 December 4 and 5. Snowed for two days which was worse 
 than mud. Several inches of snow on the ground at one 
 time ; one sleigh passed our camp. Several days were cold, 
 and we suffered with wet and cold feet. 
 
 December 13. Fred Kenniston fell with a kettle of coffee, 
 and scalded his arm so that the skin and some flesh came off. 
 He was cared for in camp a few days, and was sent to 
 hospital in Washington. 
 
 December 15. Gen. Abercrombie reviewed the brigade 
 today. We were a little anxious as we had been doing more 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 39 
 
 fatigue duty than drill, and might be a little rusty, but we 
 got along very well. Rumors are rife in camp of advances 
 on the enemy, and that we are soon to move. 
 
 December 21. We have a Christmas dinner sent out from 
 West Roxbury, and added to by Mrs. Fails of Washington. 
 Boards were laid on the limbers in the fort, and our dinner 
 was spread there of roast turkey and chickens, chicken and 
 oyster soup, pies, Boston crackers, ginger snaps, pickles, 
 cheese and apples. This dinner was appreciated by us as a 
 reminder of home, and that we are remembered in this yearly 
 festival. 
 
 Early in the winter we had no dry wood except such as we 
 could find. Some of our teamsters learned early, under 
 Sergt. Akerman, when they went out for anything to bring it 
 home. One day the cookhouse wanted some dry wood, and 
 Charlie Lord went for some a mile west of Fort Buffalo ; he 
 found a rail fence and loaded up and came back to camp. 
 The owner got there before him, and claimed the fence and 
 that he was a Union man. The officer of the day told Lord 
 to carry it back, which he did, but got a load at the other 
 end, out of sight, and unloaded at cookhouse. 
 
 In January a good deal of whisky came in camp. Guards 
 were sent to search the teams before they arrived in camp, 
 but were unable to find any. Sometimes it would be hanging 
 from the pummel of the saddle on the inside and covered by 
 the overcoat of the driver, and sometimes taken off before 
 the guard arrived and carried a back way to camp. 
 
 December 24. Letters of this date speak of trouble in 
 camp, of an artificer placed under arrest for inciting mutiny ; 
 
40 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 he was examined and put in the ranks. This artificer was a 
 giant in stature and wanted full rations. He, with some 
 others, got one of the books of the rules and regulations of 
 the army, and in that learned that many things were included 
 in the commissariat of the army, and when they were to be 
 had were to be issued instead of other things. They did not 
 read it so, but that they were to be issued with the other 
 things, so they entered complaint that they were not getting 
 their allowance. So to satisfy them, said artificer was 
 appointed acting commissary sergeant, and placed in charge 
 of cookhouse. But a few days was enough ; the new com- 
 missary could not get any more than others had, and they 
 could not run the cookhouse, and gave it up, and again Byrnes, 
 Kimball and Wilkins wielded the carving knife and ladle. 
 
 At about this time another affair had come up at head- 
 quarters. A letter from a non-commissioned officer to his 
 brother in Boston asking his aid to get transferred to some 
 other organization, was by him sent to the Governor, and by 
 him to the Secretary of War, then to the General command- 
 ing this division, who sent for him and caused an investiga- 
 tion to be made, which resulted in the papers being endorsed 
 not proven and returned, arid the gunner being reduced and 
 put in another detachment. 
 
 Also the same date says that one of our men in hospital 
 came to camp and when he went back Sergt. Akerman, 
 Privates Kenniston, Goodwin and Tibbets went back with 
 him, making nine men gone to hospital. 
 
 December 27. Sunday, about 9.30 P.M., we heard ahorse 
 galloping and stopped at the gate of the fort, challenged the 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 4 1 
 
 guard, went in, and soon, Lieut. Whitaker came to the park 
 and called a sergeant and ordered the Battery to be ready to 
 march immediately ; tents left standing, with knapsacks left 
 in them. For some cause we had no grain. As there was 
 no help for it, we put hay on our caissons and were soon 
 ready. At 12 we started, and after passing Fort Buffalo we 
 took a wood road ; it was very rough — stumps, holes and 
 mud. After various adventures, at 4 A.M. we halted, and at 
 daylight placed our guns in position, covering the roads 
 centering at a place called Annandale. The day was pleas- 
 ant, and we passed a very comfortable day, and at 9 P.M. we 
 returned to camp. This day's change in our camp-life did its 
 good, although we were twelve hours late. 
 
 After we were settled in camp, we commenced drill and 
 target practice for the first time, and soon gained some 
 proficiency. Our target was 10 x 10 feet at 850 yards. 
 
 January 15, 1863. We are paid off for two months today. 
 ,r , nnn We are all pretty poor, and the allotment that 
 
 Jan. 15,1863. , , y , M -«i , * • i 
 
 many have made leaves but little to be received 
 here. Some are fearing the allotment is not a safe way of 
 sending money home, and are growling about it, but it was 
 all right and proved so. 
 
 January 18. Gen. Abercrombie reviewed the brigade in 
 heavy marching* order. Capt. De Vecchi, wishing to have as 
 large a command as possible, mounted company clerk, stable 
 sergeant, and every man possible, and as he paraded them, 
 called them his "staffed All went well till we were in line, 
 when something was forgotten, and the stable sergeant was 
 sent back for it; he had a fine mount and was a good rider. 
 4 
 
42 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 As he started in a hurry, the bounding of his overcoat on the 
 saddle frightened the horse, and he ran, kicked, and for an 
 eighth of a mile there were mostly heels in the air ; and in the 
 infantry camp, opposite the fort, Lowell was thrown, horse 
 and all in a heap. The horse, regaining his feet, kicked till 
 he kicked his saddle off, and one or two tents into the pile. 
 Captain's staff was reduced by one at that review. 
 
 January 24. A letter of this date says there is trouble in 
 camp. A non-commissioned officer placed under arrest; 
 cause, whisky. Also, a man who had caused the Captain 
 some uneasiness, received a letter under the frank of a 
 Member of Congress. He called him to headquarters, 
 ordered him to open it, and asked, " What is it?" It was 
 handed to him. He saw it was a pass to visit Washington, 
 from the War Department. He would not countersign it, 
 but took the ambulance and went to Washington and 
 resigned his commission ; came back the second day, turned 
 over his command to Lieut. Erickson, and went back to 
 Washington. The causes that brought about these results 
 cannot be ascribed to any one person or event, but can be 
 traced as commencing at Camp Chace in October, and a 
 desire to keep near Washington, and fear that he would not 
 be able to keep his command, as the Battery was not realizing 
 the expectation of the authorities in Massachusetts. 
 
 January 27. A letter written today says : " There is great 
 relief in camp now that Capt. De Vecchi has resigned- 
 nearly all the rank and file were glad, and it was contagious 
 at headquarters. Officers and men felt the change, hope 
 sprang up where indifference had been." In the afternoon 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 43 
 
 the order placing Lieut. Erickson in command by order of 
 Gen. Abercrombie, was received and read. Headquarters 
 shook off its inertia, and the non-commissioned officers, to a 
 man, were zealous to aid him in all their duties. 
 
 A great deal of storm at this time prevented active drilling 
 in the field, but whenever the fields were good we had our 
 regular work, and at other times men and horses were 
 exercised in bareback riding. 
 
 Another movement, not in the books. The sutler had a 
 negro at work for him, turned him off and would not pay 
 him. Some of the boys thought it was not right. At 7 P.M. 
 there was a shout and the sound of tearing canvas. The 
 sutler ran out calling, " Captain ! Captain ! Sergeant ! Major ! " 
 and all was still. A guard was posted in the tent and all was 
 quiet. At 9 P.M. a few strokes of axes and down came the 
 whole shebang. At the sound of the crash the sergeant of 
 the guard came out and fired his revolver into the air. 
 Through some cause one of the guards, Zimri Whitney, was 
 scratched over the ear, said to be a shot from a revolver — 
 the first blood drawn. We generously helped the sutler to 
 pick up, and cider, coffee-pots and frying-pans were plenty in 
 camp afterward. The next morning Lieut. Erickson sent 
 the sergeant of the guard and took a Government horse from 
 him that the Captain had sold him. The horse was one some 
 cavalry had turned adrift as unserviceable from saddle gall. 
 We had cured it, and it was one of the few horses that went 
 through the war; was used by an artificer. 
 
 February 15. Each of the two first lieutenants hoped to 
 be commissioned captain, and the sergeant of the right gun, 
 
44 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 who had seen service in another battery, also talked about 
 himself as a candidate for the position, claiming neither of 
 the lieutenants were fit for it. He urged some of the men to 
 sign a petition for his appointment, but did not get any 
 names. Both of the first lieutenants talked with some of the 
 men. Lieut. Erickson kept us busy when the weather was 
 suitable, at drill, and when the roads were very muddy we 
 were mounted and took exercise at bareback riding. He 
 could do little but keep us in good condition for emergencies. 
 Letters of this date say a petition to have Lieut. Erickson 
 appointed captain, signed by all but five in the Battery, was 
 sent to Gov. Andrew today. 
 
 February 20. News of the appointment of Lieut. John 
 Bie;elow as captain arrived in camp. John Bigelow 
 
 Feb. 20. . . 
 
 enlisted as a private April 24, 1861, in the 2d Bat- 
 tery ; was elected second lieutenant May 15; was mustered 
 into the U. S. service July 31, 1861 ; served in Baltimore 
 and in Eastern Virginia during the autumn. December 16, 
 received the appointment of adjutant of the 1st Maryland 
 Battalion of Artillery, in which he served through the penin- 
 sular campaign ; at Malvern Hill his left arm was shattered. 
 Rejoining the army in the autumn, he was with Burnside at 
 Fredericksburg, contracted malaria and was obliged to go 
 home. Afterward was annoyed so much at the comments of 
 the papers and people on the conduct of the war, that he 
 went to Gov. Andrew and tendered his services again, but 
 declined to raise a new battery, and preferred service in the 
 field. He says: "Three or four days after, in looking over 
 the papers, I saw my appointment to the command of the 9th 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 45 
 
 Battery. The following Monday I visited the Adjutant Gen- 
 eral to learn the whereabouts of the Battery and look over its 
 roster. I then, called the second time on the Governor. He 
 saluted me with, ' Well, Bigelow, you see I need your assist- 
 ance.' I thanked him for the confidence manifested, and 
 asked if my appointment would not interfere with promotions 
 some of the officers might be entitled to. He replied, ' Do 
 not in the least entertain such a thought for a moment. No 
 finer body of men ever left this State, but they have been 
 unfortunate in their commanding officer, who being a for- 
 eigner, does not understand their ways. They have caused 
 me great anxiety and annoyance ; you will find them thor- 
 oughly demoralized ; they require an officer of experience ; 
 they need discipline ; your work will be difficult. If you 
 succeed, you shall have the fullest credit and my thanks.' ' : 
 
 This was the record of the 9th Massachusetts Battery in 
 Boston, with which Capt. Bigelow started from Massachusetts. 
 Arriving in camp February 28, he was somewhat surprised 
 at the cordial greeting of the officers and the general prompt- 
 ness of the men in their duties. The first day in camp was 
 Sunday ; inspection in quarters, knapsacks, clothing and 
 camp generally. The most attention was paid to the care of 
 the clothing and packing of knapsacks, and did us good. 
 Monday, the first general order gave us eight roll calls per 
 day, all by bugle. Our camp, from headquarters to stables, 
 felt a new influence. The commander's example at head- 
 quarters was as good as his order, and stable call brought 
 him to the stables, as well as the officer of the day, sergeants 
 and drivers. We are never without grain now, and our 
 
46 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 horses are in good condition ; the good sense and persever- 
 ance of our stable sergeant, Nelson Lowell, had driven hoof 
 rot and scratches out of our camp. Our many inspections 
 were thorough, and we feel that we are making rapid strides 
 toward a position in which we can be efficient in any place 
 we may be called to fill. The many changes that have been 
 made in the cookhouse have been a benefit to us, and now 
 we have plenty of food and well-cooked. One day Capt. 
 Bigelow took a regimental surgeon about camp, and to the 
 cookhouse. After inspecting the food and utensils, he 
 turned to Capt. Bigelow and said, " I know now why you have 
 so little sickness in camp ; your food is well-cooked and that 
 is why your command is so healthy." 
 
 About this time we thought we had a thief in camp. He 
 was caught, and ornamented the top of the magazine in the 
 fort, with a barrel for an overcoat, from reveille to retreat. 
 The cure was complete. 
 
 While we were in Camp Barry, a small boy of ten or eleven 
 came to our camp and wished to stay. He ran away from 
 home somewhere in the West, and was ill-used in the organ- 
 ization he came out with. The orderly sergeant took him, 
 and he used to take care of his horse ; he would stand on a 
 pail and clean as high as he could reach, then get on the 
 horse's back and finish. He was contented and smart. 
 
 The winter had been like all Virginia winters, some mud, 
 some frost, more mud, some rain, more mud, some snow, 
 more mud — not one fourth of the time could we drill. Our 
 fatigue work was not very hard after our stables and stockades 
 were built. Guard duty was light, mounting about four guards. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 47 
 
 March 2. The following letter was dated : 
 
 " Headquarters 9TH Massachusetts Battery, 
 
 March 2, 1863. 
 To Copt. Slipper, A. A. G. 
 
 As the artillery organization allows a battery but two artificers, 
 and the repairs incidental to service in the field makes the old 
 allowance of six absolutely necessary, f would respectfully request 
 the appointment of the following extra duty men : 
 
 Nelson Lowell, . 
 G. Frank Boston, 
 George B. Morse, 
 Charles Simmings, 
 Henry F. Dearborn, 
 Charles E. Lord, 
 Charles H. Bricket, 
 
 Stable Sergeant 
 
 Saddler 
 
 . Blacksmith 
 
 Wheelwright 
 
 Mule Driver 
 
 Respectfully submitted, 
 
 JOHN BIGELOW." 
 
 The letter is endorsed, "Capt. 9th Mass. Battery, Head- 
 quarters Abercrombie's Division, Mar. 2, 1863. This detail 
 can be made. By order of Brig. -Gen. Abercrombie. J. A. 
 Slipper, A. A. G." 
 
 There seems to be some confusion in regard to the 
 artificers. Sometimes a man was artificer by appointment 
 and rank, and again lie was by detail as extra duty; then by 
 detail as assistant. Three men cared for the forge, G. B. 
 Morse, Edward Rouse, and Walter Lee. The last named was 
 detailed as assistant, and quietly filled the place through the 
 term of our service. 
 
48 history of the 
 
 Headquarters Abercrombie's Division, 
 
 Arlington House, Va., Mar. 29, 1863. 
 Circular (Extract). 
 
 Information has been received of an intention on the part of the 
 Rebels to make a raid this week along the line between the Rappa- 
 hannock and upper Potomac, etc. 
 
 By order of Brig.-Gen. Abercrombie, 
 
 J. A. SLIPPER, A. A. G. 
 
 Several of these expected raids during the winter kept 
 us on the alert; several times we were ordered to be 
 in readiness to move, and sometimes were harnessed all 
 night. 
 
 March 9. At retreat the centre section was ordered to 
 s;o to Miner's Hill, about two miles north, occu- 
 
 Mar 9 
 
 pying quarters already built by nth Mass. Bat- 
 tery. We are regular about rations and feed now; no 
 danger of our having to march without grain. 
 
 We have been fitting for the field, and our guns, carriages, 
 harnesses, equipments and clothing have been thoroughly 
 examined and put in repair, and we are in the best condition 
 for marching we ever were in. 
 
 When we came to Fort Ramsey we were in a bad state; 
 some of the best men were discouraged, and some were 
 reckless ; a few believed we should come out good for some- 
 thing yet. Capt. De Vecchi liked his ease and would have 
 it, and in consequence his quartermaster and commissary 
 took theirs also, and the men were all affected by it. Some 
 were beats by habit, some were discouraged and tried to 
 shirk, and some tried to be sick; some growled; — one man 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 49 
 
 growled so much that he got the name of "growler," and 
 carried it home. We had our share of these, as all organiza- 
 tions had some. Early in the winter, Sergt. Akerman, 
 Privates Kenniston, Goodwin, and one or two others, were 
 sent to hospital in Washington. In February the sergeant 
 of the right detachment was reduced to the ranks for 
 drunkenness; soon after was sent to the hospital. About 
 April i, the two sergeants were discharged, and others 
 promoted. Some of the others, Kenniston, Goodwin and 
 Tibbets, came back and were good soldiers. 
 
 As the weather grew warmer, our commander found out- 
 camp was so bad that it would be dangerous to the health of 
 the company. Our park was an old cavalry camp, and was 
 never cleaned out. We commenced the work of find- 
 ing the earth, which had from four to six inches of 
 manure on it, and had made good progress in carting it 
 off, when orders came to break camp and go to Centreville. 
 The centre section returned to camp about the 12th of 
 April. 
 
 April 15, orders were received detaching us from Gen. 
 Abercrombie's command and assigning us to Col. Sickles' 
 brigade of Pennsylvania Reserves, and April 16, orders came 
 to report to Gen. Abercrombie at Centreville. 
 
 April 17, at 7.10 A.M., we hauled out of park at Fort 
 
 Ramsey, were joined by the other section at the 
 
 Leesburg and Alexandria road, went over the 
 
 same road we were on in December, and passed Annandale 
 
 and Fairfax Court House, halted three fourths of an hour for 
 
 rest and to feed, and arrived in 
 
50 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 CENTREVILLE, VA., 
 
 at 3 P.M. We had shelter tents issued to us before we left 
 Fort Ramsey, and we left our A tents standing. We found 
 the tents of the nth Massachusetts Battery standing here, 
 which we pitched in a new park. Soon after, Gen. Aber- 
 crombie came here and took command, and we saluted him. 
 
 Sunday, April 27, we held a short service in a Rebel fort, 
 built in '61. The service was led by Lieut. Erickson, who 
 was assisted in the exercises and singing by Sergts. Dodge 
 and Baker, Corps. Hall, Sullivan, Reed, Park, and others. 
 All were orderly and attentive. Exercises consisted of read- 
 ing Scripture, prayer, and singing. 
 
 At this post was the Keystone Battery, and April 29 we 
 had target practice with them. At three fourths of a mile 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 5 I 
 
 for smooth bores, and one and one fourth for rifled, it was 
 said ours were the best shots. 
 
 May 4, Sunday service in the fort by chaplain of 126th 
 New York; his text, "Jesus." First, description of the 
 man; second, power; third, promises; fourth, what he asks 
 of us. Before night we had orders to be ready to march; 
 harnessed, and remained in harness all night, and slept in 
 our overcoats. 
 
 May n, Sunday service conducted by Lieut. Erickson, 
 assisted as before. We are building a masked battery com- 
 manding the Warrenton road, for two guns. It was a strong, 
 neat affair, nicely turfed. 
 
 May 12. We receive four months' pay today, and some of 
 the boys astonish their friends by sending photographs of 
 their bronzed faces, many of which have changed much in 
 the nine months' service. Gambling is not so open, and 
 apparently not so common as when we were paid before ; 
 certainly not so much whisky. 
 
 May 17. Letters of this date say: "We seem to be fixed 
 here for the present. We are called the pet of 
 Gen. Abercrombie, and are kept near him. 
 
 Our camp at Centreville will be remembered as the best 
 camp ground we ever had ; sloping just right for drainage, 
 dry soil, a fine season of the year, good water and a stone 
 oven. We had good neighbors also — a brigade of New 
 York troops, among which was that regiment known as 
 " Garibaldi Guards," and a brigade that Gen. Miles surren- 
 dered at Harper's Ferry, and were under a cloud, but who 
 redeemed themselves under Gen. Hayes at Gettysburg. 
 
52 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The chaplain of one of the regiments, an energetic man, 
 wanted a chapel. He found a barn that he thought would 
 do, and the regiment marched down, took it up, and marched 
 back to camp with it. We also found some beautiful fields 
 of clover for our horses. 
 
 Maj. Downs went to Washington and brought out some 
 Boston crackers and cheese, among other things. Some of 
 the boys smelled them, and during the midnight watches 
 crept under the tent, took out the barrel of crackers and 
 a cheese, and nothing was seen in the morning of either. 
 
 June i. Lieut. Foster, Orderly-Sergt. Prescott and Pri- 
 vate Alfred Morse left for Boston on recruiting service, but 
 we never saw but one of the four recruits they enlisted. 
 
 We are drilling enough to keep us in working order, and 
 have fatigue enough to keep us healthy; yet some are 
 uneasy, and want more active life. One, at least, applied to 
 be transferred to a regiment of cavalry forming in Washing- 
 ton. Within three weeks he had enough active service, and 
 a shattered arm besides. 
 
 About two miles southwest from camp were a large num- 
 ber of Rebel barracks, covered with white oak shingles three 
 feet long and from four to eight inches wide. We carted 
 cords of them .to camp for firewood. 
 
 June 9, Bartlett C. Edson was discharged by special order 
 No. 242, War Department, " to receive promotion," dated 
 May 30, and his name stands on the records as a corporal in 
 Company F, 3d Regiment, H. A. 
 
 June 10. Edwin H. Babson died of congestion of the 
 lungs, caused by fever and ague. He was sick but two days. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS RATTERY. 53 
 
 He was nineteen years old, an excellent soldier, liked by all, 
 officers and men. He was the first one we laid away, and 
 we gave him a comrade's burial. At sunset his remains 
 were laid on a caisson, covered with the flag and drawn by 
 six horses, led by comrades, to the grave under an apple tree, 
 near headquarters. The procession was led by the guard 
 detailed for the day, and a regimental band of the post, and 
 followed by all the company. " Slowly and sadly we laid 
 him clown," and as his remains were lowered, the customary 
 salute was fired from revolvers. The grave was marked by a 
 tablet of red sandstone, well carved and lettered by one of 
 our own men. His remains were afterwards removed to 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 June 15. Sunday was quiet till about 3 P.M., when we 
 saw in the southwest a heavy cloud of dust and smoke arising, 
 which was the first intimation of any movement of the 
 armies. 
 
 Soon after, Gen. Howard, with the 1 ith Corps, came in and 
 camped in the vicinity. From this time till the 24th, troops 
 and trains were coming and going. Maj. Downs' establish- 
 ment was very tempting to some of the 2d Corps. We 
 were ordered out to protect him, and held about two acres of 
 them at bay for a few minutes, until a brigade of infantry 
 under Gen. Hayes marched in and relieved us. 
 
 Thursday, June 25, we break camp at 6 A.M., and march 
 
 to Fairfax Court House, there to find every- 
 
 oUDG ZO. , . . ,,,, ., . ~ ... 
 
 thing in motion. While we were at Lentreville 
 
 we had 1,500 rounds of ammunition, which we turn in to 
 
 the ammunition train here, and we are in light marching 
 
54 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 order. At u A.M., we wheel into column and start 
 north. 
 
 It was a hard march. Many of the batteries were like 
 ours, having done garrison duty for some time, and were 
 green in marching. The halts were frequent, and the gaps 
 in the column also, and towards night the orders to " close 
 up" came faster and more emphatic. Many men had blis- 
 tered feet and were giving out ; some horses were showing 
 signs of playing out ; guns and caissons were separated by 
 casualities ; cannoneers were left behind. But we finally 
 arrived in camp, near Edwards' Ferry, about 10 P.M., having 
 covered about thirty-three miles. It was dark and muddy in 
 camp, and we were too tired to get supper. At daylight in 
 the morning officers and sergeants began to look for their 
 guns, caissons and men ; we were all there, although our 
 camp was not very orderly. Feed, breakfast, and a few 
 changes of horses, and we were ready to move. We find we 
 are in the reserve artillery of the Army of the Potomac, Gen. 
 Tyler commanding, and the First Volunteer Brigade, Lieut. - 
 Col. F. McGilvery commanding. The brigade is made up 
 of the 15th New York, Capt. Hart; F and G Pennsyl- 
 vania, Capt. R. B. Rickets ; 5th Massachusetts, Capt. 
 Phillips ; 9th Massachusetts, Capt. John Bigelow. 
 
 Friday, 26th. Crossed the Potomac on the lower pontoon 
 bridge, at Edwards' Ferry, and camped about a mile from 
 the river. Here we received the last mail that some of us 
 ever received. 
 
 Saturday, 27th. We take our line of march through 
 Poolsville, over the northerly side of Sugar Loaf Mountain, a 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 55 
 
 rough road, and passed the wreck of many an ambulance 
 and baggage wagon. We passed through Frederick City, 
 finding at the doors buckets of water for the thirsty ones, 
 and camped about one mile beyond, at 9 P.M. Our ambu- 
 lance broke down on the mountain and they had to stay 
 there all night, arriving in camp at 10 o'clock Sunday morn- 
 ing. Here we turned in our knapsacks, and reduced our 
 baggage to one change of underclothing, overcoat, one 
 blanket and shelter tent. 
 
 Monday, the 29th, about 9 A.M., the column started 
 through Walkersville and Woodsboro, and camped near 
 Middleburg at 8 P.M. 
 
 Tuesday, 30th. At 10 A.M. took our line of march about 
 seven miles to Taneytown, went in camp in the afternoon, 
 and remained here until July 2. Rumors of fight- 
 ing reached us the day before, and when we again 
 took the road north we soon began to meet trains and men 
 coming back, saying there had been fighting the day before, 
 and would be more. 
 
 About 10 A.M., we could hear the occasional discharge of 
 artillery ; we soon came in sight of bursting shells. A little 
 in front of us a caisson blew up, killing one man, tearing his 
 face entirely off. As we passed up on the Taneytown road 
 to Gettysburg we left the Round Tops on the west, bringing 
 the fighting on our left. We turned to ihe right, through 
 those narrow and rough roads, and again to the right, into a 
 field west of Spangier's barn, going in park before noon. 
 
 The firing seemed to be from the south toward the north, 
 but occasionallv a shell would come towards us, bursting 
 
56 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 short ; the Taneytown and Emmittsburg roads being at this 
 place about one and one quarter miles apart, and we were 
 one half mile east of the Taneytown road. Spangler's barn 
 was taken for a hospital, and a large number of Rebel 
 wounded were there; some of the boys went there and saw 
 them. Our teams were watered, not more than one or two 
 batteries being unhitched at one time. We were soon fed, 
 and dinner eaten, and we watched the increasing artillery fire. 
 
 Thus passed the time till about 4 P.M. Our place in the 
 park was on the left and rear, and in the southwest corner of 
 the field, nearest the part of the line of battle occupied by 
 Gen. Sickles' 3d Corps. A little after 4 P.M., an aid-de- 
 camp rode up to the wall near the left piece of our battery, 
 and enquired for Col. McGilvery, commanding the brigade, 
 and said, " Capt. Randolph, chief of artillery of the 3d 
 Corps, sends his compliments and wishes you to send him 
 two batteries of light twelves." Col. McGilvery turned 
 around and said : " Capt. Hart and Capt. Bigelow, take your 
 batteries and report to Capt. Randolph." 
 
 At the order "Attention," we all sprang to our places and 
 cleared our guns of grain, for action, and immediately filed 
 out of the field at the corner nearest to us. We skirted 
 fields, followed by-roads, and halted in a field southeast of 
 Trostle's house. We were ordered to double up, I suppose 
 to gain time in starting. Shells were flying over our front, 
 and bursting in the air. As we sat waiting for orders, Lieuts. 
 Erickson and Milton asked permission to ride to the line of 
 battle ; the Captain, bowing assent, turning to Lieut. Whit- 
 aker said, "They will see enough before night." 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 57 
 
 As this was the first time that most of us had been under 
 fire, the experience was new and untried ; but we were all 
 calm and many realized that perhaps it was the last time we 
 should be all together. One man went to another from the 
 same place and said, " Sergeant, if I am killed, I want you to 
 get my watch and money, and send to my wife; and there's 
 seven dollars that F. owes me, get that, too." But he escaped 
 unharmed, the sergeant wounded, and F. killed. 
 
 Soon the order was "Forward," and we filed into a lane 
 by Trostle's house, then turned to the left through a gate- 
 way. Before the left piece was through, the order rang out : 
 "Forward into line, left oblique. Trot!" (See frontispiece) 
 and before the left piece was in line, " Action front ! " 
 The distance across the field is about 300 yards, up a gradual 
 slope to a road so little traveled as to be marked by fences 
 more than anything else. The right piece was about ten 
 yards back from the road ; the left piece was in the road 
 (fences were all down). 
 
 As the Captain rode down the line he found the left section 
 so far down as not to be able to sight their guns on anything. 
 He ordered, "Left section limber to the rear; by the left 
 flank, march !" and on the right of the line went in battery; 
 so that our line during the engagement was as follows from 
 the right : fifth piece, sixth, first, second, third, fourth, and 
 the lieutenants were on the right, Whitaker, then Erickson, 
 and Milton, who was in command of the centre section (Lieut. 
 Foster being in Massachusetts), and Quartermaster Reed in 
 charge of the line of caissons. Our position was between the 
 Peach Orchard and Wheat Field, on the left of the 5th Massa- 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 59 
 
 chusetts Battery, and nothing in sight on our left. The 
 position was swept by Confederate artillery, and some were 
 wounded while going in battery. 
 
 Our first orders were to shell a piece of woods which con- 
 cealed three batteries of eighteen guns. What effect our 
 firing had on them we do not know; but their fire seemed to 
 slacken somewhat. Very soon we were ordered to shell 
 Rose's barn to dislodge some sharpshooters. 
 
 It has been a current report among our battery members 
 that we killed over one hundred men at this place, and 
 one field officer. In a letter of Gen. L. McLaws, dated 
 Oct. 7, 1886, he says: "Col. McGlosbein, 50th Georgia 
 Regiment, of Semme's Brigade, tells me that his regiment 
 lost one third of its men by artillery fire, including its 
 commander." The time and place indicate this time and 
 place. 
 
 This shelling greatly aided the brigade that were in the 
 woods in front of the Wheat Field, in which were the 18th and 
 22d Mass. Regiments. Kershaw on the right and Barksdale 
 on the left moved out together, and broke Sickles' line at 
 Peach Orchard; then Kershaw inclined to the right and 
 Barksdale to the left, and when they appeared in our sight, 
 Kershaw's left flank was on our right front ; Barksdale's right 
 was on our right flank. Kershaw having passed the Peach 
 Orchard, halted to reform his lines about 700 yards distant. 
 Col. McGilvery ordered us to shell them, and it was a fine 
 target, and the case shot burst finely in their front. They 
 were in two lines of battle and must have suffered from our 
 fire. They threw out a heavy line of skirmishers against us, 
 
60 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 forming a solid single line covering our battery front, after 
 we commenced to retire by prolonge. 
 
 The skirmish fire was very sharp and we were losing 
 heavily. Col. McGilvery ordered Capt. Bigelow to " limber 
 to the rear and get out." He replied, " I shall lose all my 
 men in limbering up, but would retire by prolonge instead." 
 
 As we commenced retiring, Barksdale's brigade emerged 
 from the Peach Orchard about 400 yards on our right, and 
 halted to reform their lines. Capt. Bigelow says, " I directed 
 Milton (left section) to keep back Kershaw's skirmishers 
 with canister, and Erickson and Whitaker to throw solid 
 shot into Barksdale's lines." To keep clear of our fire, 
 Bafksdale moved well to our right, the greater part of his 
 men going west of Trostle's barn, while the 21st Miss. 
 Regiment (Humphrey's) was detached and came clown the 
 road on our right and front. The line of the regiment was 
 so long that Capt. Bigelow thought it was a brigade. 
 
 As the recoil of our guns brought us to the rear of the 
 field, we were somewhat troubled in working our guns by 
 large bowlders and the stone wall on our left and rear. 
 
 Capt. Bigelow says: "Just as I was limbering up to go 
 through the gateway and back to the ridge in my rear 
 (Cemetery Ridge proper), Col. McGilvery dashed up and 
 said, ' Captain Bigelow, there is not an infantryman back of 
 you along the whole line from which Sickles moved out ; 
 you must remain where you are and hold your position at all 
 hazards, and sacrifice your battery, if need be, until at least 
 I can find some batteries to put in position and cover you. 
 The enemy are coming down on you now.' I immediately 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 6l 
 
 ordered the guns unlimbered, the ammunition taken from the 
 limbers and laid beside the guns. Hardly were the four 
 guns double-shotted before the enemy appeared above a swell 
 of the ground about fifty yards on my right and front. I 
 became heavily engaged." 
 
 The situation was not one an artillery officer would have 
 chosen, as the ground on our front and right was much 
 higher, and we could not see more than fifty or sixty yards 
 in those directions ; neither was there room enough to work 
 six guns at usual intervals ; and the ground was broken by 
 bowlders, with heavy stone walls in our rear and left, with a 
 gateway about in the rear of the second piece from the 
 right. 
 
 As soon as the enemy appeared over the ridge, they were 
 received with a vigorous fire, some of which was with double 
 canister ; but they were too near the prize to be stopped, and 
 pressed on and received our fire not six feet from the muzzles 
 of our guns. Then our cannoneers were driven at the point 
 of the bayonet, and were shot down from the limbers. 
 
 Soon after they appeared, Capt. Bigelow was shot and fell 
 from his horse ; Lieut. Erickson was already wounded, and 
 was hit again and fell dead near the right gun, and his horse 
 went into the enemy's lines. Lieut. Whitaker at this time 
 was shot through the knee, but kept his seat and rode off 
 the field; Sergt. Dodge also fell here mortally wounded; 
 Sergts. Murray, Fenton, Hirst and Baker were all wounded 
 and were helpless for duty. 
 
 Capt. Bigelow was raised up, and saw the enemy that came 
 in on our flank standing on the limbers shooting horses, and 
 
62 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 men, still serving their guns. But Col. McGilvery was ready, 
 and he ordered, " Cease firing, and get back to our lines as 
 best you can." Most of the wounded men who could, had 
 left the field ; beside the instinct of self-preservation, some 
 wished to relieve their comrades of caring for them. Capt. 
 Bigelow's horse had run away when he fell ; he was lifted on 
 his orderly's horse, and started for our lines nearly the way 
 we came in, and encountered Watson's Battery (I, 5th U. S., 
 probably) just in position. They called to him to hurry up, 
 as they wished to open fire. He says, " I could not, and told 
 them to fire away, which they did." 
 
 On their right, Col. McGilvery had placed the 5th Mass., 
 6th Maine; K, 1st N. Y. ; B, 1st Penn. ; 2d Conn.; 15th 
 N. Y., Ind. ; G, Penn.; C, 4th U. S. ; and Rority's B, 1st 
 N. Y. (Batchelders Map). 
 
 The left section had been busy with Kershaw's line of 
 skirmishers, and being farthest from the enemy on our right 
 flank, they did not suffer so much in their horses or men, 
 and when the final order came, they had nearly whole gun 
 teams. A few top stones of the wall were toppled off, and 
 the teams went over ; one gun partly overturned, but was 
 righted by the aid of men from other pieces. 
 
 The situation at this time was as follows : The right gun, 
 the fifth, horses all killed and left fifty yards up the slope ; 
 one driver killed ; sergeant and gunner wounded and gone ; 
 two cannoneers wounded and one lying under the gun. The 
 next gun, all but one horse killed ; sergeant wounded twice ; 
 one cannoneer shot through the body, lying in the enemy's 
 lines; one other bruised in the back; the limber overturned 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 63 
 
 near the gateway. The next two guns, one sergeant 
 mortally wounded, the other hit in the foot; five men 
 killed, two wounded ; all horses killed. The left section 
 lost one sergeant wounded and one man wounded ; gun 
 teams with some wounded horses, but all went off the 
 field. 
 
 As one lieutenant and one sergeant were absent, Quarter- 
 master Reed volunteered to take charge of the line of 
 caissons and was hit in the neck. Also Stable Sergeant 
 Lowell, on hearing that the boys were having a hard time, 
 mounted and rode to the field, and tendered his services to 
 the Captain ; he also was lying under his horse, which was 
 shot. 
 
 In leaving the field, the men were scattered ; some followed 
 the two guns, and some the caissons, and some made their 
 way back to the park of the reserve artillery ; and not until 
 the next morning were they all together again, and it 
 was known who were missing. The summing up is as 
 follows : 
 
 KILLED. 
 
 Sen. First Lieut. Christopher Erickson. 
 Sergt. 2d gun, Charles E. Dodge. 
 Private ist gun, Henry Fen. 
 
 " 1st " Adolph Lipman. 
 
 " ist " Charles B. Nutting. 
 
 " 2d " John Crosson. 
 
 " 2d " Arthur Murphy. 
 
 " 5th " James T. Gilson. 
 
64 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 WOUNDED. 
 
 Capt. John Bigelow, hand and side. 
 
 Jun. 1st Lieut. Alexander H. Whitaker, knee; died July 20. 
 Quartermaster Sergt. James W. Reed, Jr., neck, slight. 
 Sergt. 1st gun, George Murray, foot, severe. 
 
 " 4th " John L. Fenton, knee ; died in Baltimore, 
 July 28. 
 Sergt. 5th gun, Joseph Hirst, arm, severe. 
 
 " 6th " Levi W. Baker, hip and shoulder, twice, severe. 
 
 Augustus Hessie, arm, severe. 
 
 J. K. Norwood, lungs, severe. 
 
 John B. Stowe, lungs, severe. 
 
 Samuel W. Barnard, leg, severe. 
 
 Louis Langeleer, leg, severe. 
 
 John A. McCarty, leg, severe. 
 
 Austin Packard, wrist ; died Sept. 20, '63. 
 
 Charles Downing, slight. 
 
 James McDavitt, slight. 
 Guidon, Thos. Fisher, slight. 
 
 PRISONERS. 
 
 Gunner William L. Dawes, escaped. 
 Private Samuel Toby, exchanged. 
 
 Of the action at this time Gen. Doubleday writes, in the 
 sixth volume of the Campaigns of the Civil War: "At 
 last it became necessary to sacrifice one of them, that of 
 Bigelow, to enable the others to form a new line in the rear ;" 
 also, "Kershaw captured them at one time" (which must be 
 
 Gun 
 
 r 5 th 
 
 Pri. 
 
 5th 
 
 K 
 
 6th 
 
 << 
 
 1st 
 
 <( 
 
 5th 
 
 << 
 
 3d 
 
 t( 
 
 1st 
 
 << 
 
 4th 
 
 t< 
 
 3d 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 65 
 
 a mistake) ; also, " Bigelow was ordered by Maj. McGilvery 
 to sacrifice his battery to give the others time to form a new 
 line. He fought with fixed prolonge until the enemy were 
 within six feet of him, then retired with the loss of three 
 officers and twenty-eight men." McLaws says, " One shell 
 killed and wounded thirty men out of a company of thirty- 
 seven." 
 
 Also C. C. Coffin writes of the 2d of July : 
 
 " I looked down upon the scene from Little Round Top. 
 At 3 o'clock, the 3d Corps advanced until they had nearly 
 reached the Peach Orchard of Sherfy. The 9th Mass. Bat- 
 tery, Capt. Bigelow, accompanied them. The enemy was 
 prepared. A battery opened on Longstreet's extreme right ; 
 another and another, until the fire extended along the entire 
 front line northward to the Cemetery. The cannonade was 
 furious, disembowelling horses and tearing up the earth. 
 The air was filled with strange unearthly noises, caused by 
 the sharp whistling of rifled bolts and round shot, and the 
 whirring noise of shells overhead and all around. 
 
 " The response was immediate. In three minutes' time the 
 earth trembled with the tremendous concussion of 200 pieces 
 of artillery. Two lines of the enemy, preceded by skirmish- 
 ers, came up. They numbered from 30,000 to 40,000 men. 
 They advanced with cheers and yells. While Sickles held 
 them in check, a division from Longstreet moved upon his 
 left flank, and attempted to get between him and Round Top, 
 which he rightly judged to be the key to the whole position. 
 Sickles was furiously attacked upon his left, and the angle at 
 the Peach Orchard where his line receded. In the meantime, 
 
66 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Longstreet was attempting to drive his men into the half 
 mile that intervened between Bigelow and Round Top. 
 
 " ' You must hold this position till I can get two batteries 
 on the ridge,' were the orders of Maj. McGilvery, command- 
 ing the 3d Corps Artillery, to Bigelow. ' Send up batteries 
 and send up men,' was Sickles' request. The enemy were 
 now close upon Bigelow's battery. The artillerists attached 
 to the battery were nine months men and had never been 
 under fire. [Note. — Evidently confounded with the nth 
 Battery, Jones' nine months men, which was recruited at the 
 same time.] 
 
 " ' Give them grape and canister,' said McGilvery to Bige- 
 low. Bigelow gave them all he had, and then commenced on 
 spherical case. Men never under fire were expected to roll 
 back the dense advancing lines. Up through the wheat came 
 Barksdale's Mississippians. Great gaps were made in their 
 ranks, but still they pressed on, reinforced by Wofford's 
 Brigade. The Rebels were desperate. Sickles was further 
 back toward the ridge. A Rebel battery hastened up and 
 unlimbered close upon Bigelow. The Rebels rushed upon his 
 guns. He blew them from the muzzles and filled the air with 
 the shattered fragments of human bodies. Still they came 
 on with demoniacal screams, climbing upon their limbers and 
 shooting his horses. Five of his sergeants were instantly 
 killed, three of his cannoneers were gone, twenty-two of his 
 men were killed and wounded, and himself shot through the 
 side ; yet he held on till McGilvery got his two batteries in 
 position. He brought off five limbers and two of his pieces, 
 dragging them in part by hand. The Rebels seized the four 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 6j 
 
 pieces with shouts of victory, waving their flags, and came 
 on for new triumphs. McGilvery's batteries drove them 
 back by a flanking fire. At this time a fresh division of 
 Sickles' Corps (Humphrey's) came up, another charge was 
 made on the Rebels and the guns of Bigelow were recov- 
 ered.'' 
 
 In a book entitled Our First Century, written by R. M. 
 Devens, in 1882, I find the following in the sketch of the 
 battle of Gettysburg : 
 
 "A fit illustration of the sanguinary character of the after- 
 noon struggle already described is given by Mr. Whitelaw 
 Reid, one of the gifted correspondents of the Cincinnati 
 Gazette. Mr. Reid says : ' Some Mass. Batteries, Capt. 
 Bigelow's, Capt. Phillips', and two or three more under Capt. 
 McGilvery of Maine, were planted on the extreme left, 
 advanced now well down to the Emmittsburg road, with 
 infantry in their front — the 1st Division of Sickle's Corps. 
 A little after 5, a fierce Confederate charge drove back the 
 infantry and menaced the batteries. Orders were sent to 
 Bigelow, on the extreme left, to hold his position at every 
 hazard short of sheer annihilation, till a couple more batteries 
 could be brought up to his support. Reserving his fire a 
 little, then with depressed guns opening with double charges 
 of grape and canister, he smote and shattered but could not 
 break the advancing line. His grape and canister became 
 exhausted ; and still closing grandly up over their slain, on 
 they rushed. He fell back on spherical case and poured this 
 in at shortest range. On, still onward, came the artillery- 
 defying line, and still he held his position. They got within 
 
68 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 six paces of his guns — he fired again. Once more, and he 
 blew the soldiers from their very muzzles ; and still, mindful 
 of that solemn order, he held his place. They spring upon 
 his carriages and shoot his horses, and then, his Yankee 
 artillerists still about him, he seized the guns by hand, and 
 from the very front of that line dragged two of them off. 
 The caissons were farther back ; five out of six were saved. 
 That single company, in that half hour's fight, lost thirty- 
 three of its men, including every sergeant it had, and the 
 captain himself wounded." 
 
 Such is the written history of our first engagement. 
 
 In a book entitled A Complete Handbook of the Monuments 
 and Indications and Guide to the Positions on the Gettysburg 
 Battlefield, by J. Howard Wert, A.M., published in 1886, 1 
 find the following of the appearance in front of the Union 
 left, after the battle : 
 
 " Emerging from the woods and ascending the highest 
 swell in the rocky ridge, we find in a commanding position 
 the elegant monument of the 18th Massachusetts. It stands 
 in full view of the Rose house. From here there is an 
 excellent view of the fields and woods, around which were 
 the scenes of such desperate conflicts. The Wheat Field 
 extends to the east ; west of us is the line of the Emmitts- 
 burg road, less than one fourth of a mile distant ; and the 
 location of the Peach Orchard is plainly visible. On a rising 
 knoll, a short distance away, are the Rose buildings ; while a 
 small, marshy stream flows between, and pursues its way past 
 the spring house into the woods below. July 2, 1863, this 
 stream was clogged with the dead bodies of Confederates cut 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 69 
 
 down bv the fire of the infantry whose monuments we are 
 viewing, and the terrible missiles of Bigelow's artillery, 
 whose monument will shortly be described. Immediately 
 after the battle were heavy rains, and in the valley, so much 
 was the course of the stream obstructed, that great ponds 
 were formed where the waters were dammed up by the 
 swollen corpses of the Southern soldiery. The writer wan- 
 dered over these fields immediately after the fierce strife had 
 ceased, and the vivid impression of the horrible sights there 
 beheld, can never be effaced from the memory. Death in its 
 ghastliest and most abhorrent forms was everywhere. Fes- 
 tering corpses at every step ; some still unburied, some 
 hastily and rudely buried. All the fields and woods from the 
 Emmittsburg road to the base of Little Round Top, were one 
 vast hideous charnel house. In the garden of the Rose 
 house, in full view, but a short distance from this monument 
 (22d Mass.) nearly one hundred Rebels were buried. All 
 around the barn, even within the house yards, within a few 
 feet of the doors, were in numbers the scantily buried fol- 
 lowers of the Confederate cause. Two hundred and seventy- 
 five were buried behind the barn ; a Rebel colonel was buried 
 within a yard of the kitchen door." 
 
 Also Lieut. Hemenway, in his account of the action of the 
 1 8th Regiment, says : " On our right was posted the 5th 
 (a mistake for the 9th) Mass. Battery, whose guns, retiring 
 by prolonge, delivered a terrible fire of grape and canister 
 into the ranks of the advancing foe." 
 
 Also from the same book, he says, in describing Peach 
 Orchard and vicinity: "And first of all, we will pause where 
 
JO HISTORY OF THE 
 
 stood Bigelow's Battery, amid a scene of slaughter that 
 surpassed anything recorded of Lodi bridge or Marango 
 ridge." 
 
 Capt. Chas. A. Phillips, of the 5th Mass. Battery, which 
 was next on our right, says : " About 5 o'clock the enemy 
 succeeded in driving back the 3d Corps, and we were forced 
 to retire. The left piece was brought off by hand. First 
 Sergt. H. D. Scott was shot and severely wounded in the 
 face while superintending this movement." 
 
 In the paper of Gen. Henry J. Hunt, Chief of Artillery of 
 the Army of the Potomac, published in the Century of De- 
 cember, 1886, he says: "The breaking in of the Peach 
 Orchard angle exposed the flanks of the batteries on its 
 crest, which retired firing in order to cover the retreat of the 
 infantry. Many guns of different batteries had to be aban- 
 doned because of the destruction of their horses and men ; 
 many were hauled off by hand ; all the batteries lost heavily. 
 Bigelow's 9th Mass. made a stand close by the Trostle house 
 in the corner of the field through which he had retired, fight- 
 ing with prolonges fixed. Although already much cut up, 
 he was directed by McGilvery to hold that point at all 
 hazards until a line of artillery could be formed in front of 
 the wood beyond Plum Run, that is, on what we have called 
 the Plum Run line. This line was formed by collecting the 
 serviceable batteries and fragments of batteries that were 
 brought off, with which, and Dow's Maine Battery, fresh 
 from the reserve, the pursuit was checked. Finally some 
 twenty-five guns formed a solid mass, which, unsupported by 
 infantry, held this part of the line, aided Humphrey's move- 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. J\ 
 
 mcnts, and covered by its fire the abandoned guns on the 
 field until they could be brought off, as all were, except 
 perhaps one. When, after fully accomplishing its purpose, 
 all that was left of Bigelow's Battery was withdrawn, it was 
 closely pressed by Humphrey's 21st Mississippi, the only 
 Confederate regiment which succeeded in crossing the run. 
 His men had entered the battery and fought hand to hand 
 with the cannoneers ; one was killed while trying to spike a 
 gun, and another knocked clown with a handspike while 
 endeavoring to drag off a prisoner. Of the four battery 
 officers, one was killed, another mortally, and a third, Capt. 
 Bigelow, severely wounded ; of seven sergeants, two were 
 killed, and four wounded, or a total of twenty-eight men, 
 including two missing; and eighty out of eighty-eight horses 
 were killed and wounded. As the battery had sacrificed 
 itself for the safety of the line, its work is specially noticed, 
 as typical of the service that artillery is not infrequently 
 called upon to render, and did render in other instances at 
 Gettysburg besides this one." 
 
 The following is an incomplete report of the part taken 
 by the 1st Brigade Volunteer Division Artillery Reserve 
 and other batteries under command of Maj. McGilvery, 
 in the battle near Gettysburg, Penn., July 2 and 3, 
 1863: 
 
 The Brigade proper consists of the following named Batteries, 
 viz.: 1. Batteries C and F, consolidated Penn. Artillery, Capt. 
 Thompson ; 2. 9th Battery Mass. Vols., Capt. John Bigelow ; 
 3. 5th Battery Mass. Vols., Capt. Phillips; 4. 15th N. Y. Ind. 
 Battery, Capt. Hart. 
 
72 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Gen. O. R. Tyler, Commanding Artillery Reserve, A. P. 
 
 General: — I have the honor to respectfully report that my brig- 
 ade being in park at a central position near our line of battle, at 
 about 3.30 o'clock, P.M., on the 2d of July, I received an order 
 from yourself to report to Gen. Sickles with one light twelve- 
 pounder and one rifled battery. 
 
 I. The 5th Mass. Battery, Capt. Phillips, and 9th Mass. Battery, 
 Capt. Bigelow, were marched immediately to a position occupied 
 by Gen. Sickles near a belt of oak woods, considerably in front of 
 the prolongation of the natural line of defences of our army, on the 
 left centre, in which Gen. Sickles' command was then engaged with 
 the enemy. By Gen. Sickles' order, I made an examination of the 
 grounds, and placed the two Mass. Batteries in a position that 
 commanded most of the open country between the woods held by 
 our troops on the left centre, and the woods and high ground 
 occupied by the enemy on their right. A New Jersey Battery 
 immediately on the right of the two Mass. Batteries, was receiving 
 the most of the fire of two or more Rebel batteries. Hart's 15th 
 N. Y. Battery reporting at that time, I placed it in position in a 
 peach orchard on the right and a little in front of the New Jersey 
 Battery. The four batteries already mentioned presented a front 
 nearly at right angles with the position occupied by our troops, 
 facing toward our left, the fire of which I concentrated on single 
 Rebel batteries, and five or more were driven in succession from 
 their position. Capt. Thompson, C and F, consolidated Penn. 
 Battery of my brigade, took position on the right of the 15th N. Y. 
 Battery, two sections of which fronted and fired in the direction of 
 those heretofore mentioned, and the right section fronted to the 
 right, and opened fire on a section or more of Rebel artillery posted 
 in the woods at canister range, immediately on the right of the 
 batteries under my command, the enfilade fire of which was 
 inflicting serious damage through the whole of my line. 
 
 II. At about 5 o'clock, a heavy column of Rebel infantry made 
 its appearance in a grain field about 850 yards in front, moving at 
 quick time toward the woods on our left, where the infantry fighting 
 was then going on. A well-directed fire from all the batteries was 
 

 NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 73 
 
 brought to bear upon them, which destroyed the order of their 
 march, and drove many back into the woods on their right, though 
 the main portion of the column succeeded in reaching the point for 
 which they started, and sheltered themselves from the artillery fire, 
 and in a few minutes another and larger column appeared at about 
 750 yards, presenting a slight left flank to our position. I imme- 
 diately trained the entire line of our guns upon them, and opened 
 with various kinds of ammunition. The column continued to move 
 on at double quick, until its head reached a barn and farmhouse 
 immediately in front of my left battery at about 450 yards distant, 
 when it came to a halt. I gave them canister and solid shot with 
 such good effect that I am sure that several hundred were put 
 hors de combat in a short space of time. The column was broken; 
 part lied in the direction whence it came, part pushed on into the 
 woods on our left ; the remainder endeavored to shelter themselves 
 in masses around the house and barn. 
 
 III. I visited the position after the battle, where this column in 
 its confusion massed up around the house and barn heretofore 
 mentioned, and found 120 odd dead belonging to three South Car- 
 olina regiments. This mortality was no doubt from the effect of 
 the artillery fire. 
 
 IV. The asperities of the ground in front of my batteries was 
 such as to enable the enemy's sharpshooters in large numbers to 
 cover themselves within very short range. 
 
 V. At about a quarter to 6 o'clock, the enemy's infantry gained 
 possession of the woods immediately on the left of my line of 
 batteries, and our infantry fell back both on our right and left, when 
 great disorder ensued on both flanks of the line of batteries. At 
 this period of the action all the batteries were exposed to a warm 
 infantry fire from both flanks and front, whereupon I ordered them 
 to retire 250 yards and renew their fire. The New Jersey battery 
 mentioned, being out of ammunition, retired to the rear. The 15th 
 N. Y. Battery also retired from the field. Capts. Bigelow and 
 Phillips, who were under my observation about all the time, 
 evinced great coolness and skill in retiring their batteries, ('apt. 
 Phillips, with four men, hauled one of his pieces off by hand, every 
 
74 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 horse on the limber having been shot down. It is a mystery to me 
 how Capt. Phillips, Lieut. Scott and four men accomplished this 
 work, as they were nearly surrounded and fired upon from almost 
 every direction. Lieut. Scott was shot through the face. Capt. 
 Bigelow retired by prolonge. 
 
 A few of the incidents of the day are saved. At the time 
 Kershaw's skirmishers were advancing on our position, and 
 Col. McGilvery ordered to limber to the rear, W. J. Doe, the 
 lead driver on the fourth gun, mounted and saw the enemy 
 (Kershaw's skirmishers) creeping up the slope on their hands 
 and knees, and they were not seen by the Colonel, who said, 
 " Where are the enemy, Captain ? " The driver told him 
 what he saw. He said, " For God's sake, depress your guns 
 and double shot with canister ! " and about this time came 
 the order to fix prolonge. 
 
 Sergt. Dodge, second detachment, fell during the contest 
 with the 2 1 st Mississippi. They had used all their ammunition 
 but one solid shot, which was their last shot into a solid 
 mass of the enemy. All their horses were lost. Lieut. 
 Whitaker, who was on the right, received the first onset of 
 the 2 1 st Mississippi. The right gun (the fifth detachment) 
 had its sergeant and gunner wounded. One cannoneer and 
 pole driver were trying to limber up, when the cannoneer 
 (Norwood) was shot through the lungs ; no one else there, 
 and the remaining horses shot. The enemy were on the gun 
 and limber, and a color bearer mounted the limber and waved 
 his flag. Norwood lay for some time under the gun, and 
 Blaisdell, unharmed, remained with him, and, as the regi- 
 ment advanced, went along with them, saying, " I want to 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 75 
 
 get some water for a wounded comrade." He was not 
 hindered, and came back, helped Norwood to go fifty yards 
 to the shelter of a large tree and bowlder under it, where he 
 lay and kept the wound wet all night. Norwood says after 
 he was laid down beside the rock, the enemy rested their 
 guns over it and fired ; also during the night he laid his hand 
 on the face of a dead man lying beside him. In the morning 
 he was helped into Trostle's house, and afterward to the 
 Baltimore pike. Norwood says he owes his life to Blaisdell 
 and cold water. 
 
 The next gun lost its sergeant early in the engagement, 
 and as the Battery commenced to retire, lost one of the pole 
 horses ; but the driver, Cole, and the other horse, took the 
 gun back, firing by prolonge until near the gateway, when 
 the other horse was shot and the limber partly overturned, 
 and a caisson going through the gateway struck it and com- 
 pletely overturned it. Just here Lieut. Whitaker was shot 
 through the knee. Three of the cannoneers were disabled, 
 and the gunner was ordered to leave it and help the 
 others. 
 
 R. L. Willis, No. 6 on the left gun, whose post was serving 
 ammunition from the chest, says : 
 
 " As I was serving ammunition from the limber, I noticed 
 at my left in the woods, then occupied by Kershaw's skir- 
 mishers, a Confederate sharpshooter step from behind a tree, 
 raise and sight his gun directly on me. My teeth shut 
 together so that my jaws cracked, and I heard the bullet 
 whistle just above and back of my head. I mechanically 
 turned my head the other way and saw an officer fall from 
 
y6 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 his horse in the battery on our right. [Time and place 
 when Lieut. Scott of the 5th was shot.] 
 
 "I saw Lieut. Erickson, as he passed near me, reeling in 
 his saddle ; he was frothing at the mouth ; asked me for some 
 water, drank nearly a canteenful. He afterward saw the 
 right gun some distance to the rear and in danger of capture, 
 rode up to it and was shot through the head; fell dead, his 
 horse going into the enemy's line. The Battery kept well 
 aligned in retiring till near the rear of the field, when the 
 right gun was left behind, losing all their horses. Early in 
 the action, at the right, I saw three men lying on the ground, 
 and Gilson was filling his pipe. He fell over, struggled a 
 moment, and was still, shot through the neck. On the third 
 gun, Fen, No. 1, Crosson, 2, Smith, 3, and Murphy 4. Mur- 
 phy fell as he was about to fire; Fen took the lanyard and 
 was shot ; then Crosson stepped around to fire the gun and 
 was shot ; Smith stepped over the trail and fired the gun. 
 [I think this is not correct, and some were in the second 
 detachment.] At the last we were in the northeast corner of 
 Trostle's field and limbered up. We had two rounds of case 
 shot left. We unlimbered and gave them the last two shots ; 
 they quailed before them. We tumbled the top stones off the 
 wall and went over. The enemy were around Trostle's house 
 and barn. As we went back, some officer called to Lieut. 
 Milton to place his guns in their line, but he had no ammu- 
 nition." 
 
 E. Cole, pole driver on sixth piece, says : " My near horse 
 was shot and cut out, and as we commenced to retire, I led 
 the off horse and guided the pole. The limber chest saved 
 

 NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. JJ 
 
 me; the cover was open in retiring and there were thirteen 
 holes in it, and some in the chest. There were four car- 
 tridges left. There seemed to be a body of the enemy on our 
 right front, and at every discharge they were mown down 
 like a swath. David Brett lost his cap and started back for 
 it; John Ligal took him under his arm and carried him off. 
 Also I caught the off lead and swing horses and led them off. 
 S. H. Goodwin took the off swing horse on the caisson. 
 After taking it to the rear, found a musket and tried to rally 
 some of the boys to go back with him for the guns. In the 
 evening, I saw some prisoners who said it was the hardest 
 artillery fire they ever stood against. One man had five of 
 our canister in various parts of him, and another said : 
 'Never saw such men; you didn't know when you were 
 whipped. We could have killed every one of you'ns, but we 
 thought you had surrendered.' I think the column that 
 recaptured our guns came from the direction of the Wheat 
 Field. Lipman was shot through the forehead." 
 
 John B. Stowe, No. I on sixth piece, says : " About the 
 time we had orders to fix prolonge, I was shot through the 
 body. I went to the rear about twenty yards and fell sense- 
 less ; soon recovering consciousness, I heard the order to fall 
 back. Corp. Whitney (Zimri) got me on my feet and tried 
 to get me back with him. I could not help myself at all, and 
 he was obliged to lay me down ; gave me his canteen full of 
 water and reluctantly left me. I saw the enemy's line 
 advancing, and watched them till they marched over me and 
 halted at a stone wall near some woods ; and there they 
 remained till dark, then fell back over me and threw out a 
 
y8 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 picket line. I was left between the picket lines. There I 
 was all night, with none but the dead, save now and then a 
 ghoul in gray, searching the dead and stripping them of their 
 clothing. If seen by our pickets, they were fired on and 
 driven away. The night was long and dark to me ; I thought 
 if the boys could they would come for me. Toward morning 
 a man in gray came near me. He appeared to be looking 
 about, but not trying to strip any bodies. He stood looking 
 at me, and I put out my hand and touched his foot ; he 
 jumped as if surprised ; he probably thought me dead. On 
 recovering, he stooped down, asked me where I was shot, if I 
 was cold, and got a rubber blanket and got it under me, and 
 covered me with two of woolen. He sat by me some time 
 talking, till it began to be light, then gave me his canteen of 
 water, saying he must get back to his post. Daylight was 
 welcomed, and with it the gray line advanced and occupied 
 the position of the night before, and I was again inside the 
 enemy's lines. They opened fire, and the shot and shell 
 came from all directions, and I almost gave up. I laid here 
 till about 4 P.M., the third day, when I decided to try and 
 move if I was killed. I made slow progress in crawling, but 
 persevered till I reached the spring near the oak tree. As I 
 approached, a picket on the enemy's outpost saw me, raised 
 his hand, and no one fired at me, although the pickets were 
 firing all the time. There I stopped, drank and rested. Still 
 the leaden hail was dropping around me. Next, still on my 
 hands and knees, I tried to reach the house (Trostle's), 
 through which, as I entered, passed a cannon ball. The 
 next day, the fourth, I was taken to the 2d Corps hospital, 
 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 79 
 
 and that night, with thousands of others, lay uncovered 
 through a heavy rain. July 5, Wm. Strong and Chas. Tibbets 
 found me, and had me carried to a house on the road to the 
 village. July 9, was taken to a church in the town, and the 
 16th to McKim's hospital, Baltimore. I was struck under 
 the arm, passing through lungs, breaking two ribs in passing 
 out." 
 
 Capt. Bigelow says : " I noticed, when near the right gun, 
 that Gunner Hessie dropped flat on the ground after its 
 discharge. I was about to severely reprimand him, when I 
 discovered he was watching the effect of his shot under the 
 smoke from the discharge. Resuming his place he con- 
 tinued his firing." 
 
 Stable Sergt. Lowell, being in charge of spare horses and 
 forage, was left at the park in Spangler's field. He heard 
 the Battery was having hot work, and mounted his horse and 
 came on the field about the time the Battery commenced 
 retiring by prolonge. On reporting to Capt. Bigelow, he 
 said : " The chief of the sixth piece is wounded ; go and take 
 charge of that gun." He says : 
 
 " I found the No. 1 wounded and helpless ; No. 2, bruised 
 by piece of shell ; the gunner and the five others serving the 
 gun ; all the horses gone but the off pole horse, whose driver, 
 E. Cole, was holding the pole yoke and guiding the horse, so 
 that the limber kept out of the way of the gun. Near the 
 gateway the other horse was shot, and limber overturned ; 
 ammunition gone. I immediately joined the next serviceable 
 gun, which was Gunner Wm. Tucker's, who was almost 
 alone. I found three rounds of ammunition in the limber. 
 
80 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 These I took in my arms to the gun, and they were used; 
 I inserted them myself in the gun. Next, the left section 
 were limbered up and were trying to get out. The right gun 
 of the section was partly overturned, and I, with some others, 
 righted it, and prevented the drivers from cutting traces and 
 leaving ; the other gun was over the wall and making good 
 time to the rear. 
 
 " I had mounted old Tom to escape, when a Reb presented 
 his musket in my face; 'Surrender, you damned Yankee.' 
 Pictures of Libby and Andersonville flashed through my 
 mind, as I reached round for my revolver, resolving to fight 
 for it. Before my revolver was drawn, my horse fell, shot 
 dead, and I was under him. I lay still, hoping to save 
 myself. I remained quiet some time, as I could not help 
 myself, and as the enemy were driven back, the first blue 
 coat I saw, I called for help to get my horse off my leg, and 
 although lame, I went back out of range, and lay down till 
 morning, then commenced hunting for the remnants of the 
 Battery. I begged a few hard tack, and about 10 o'clock 
 found the Battery, and the first thing I heard was : ' Here 
 comes another ; hallo, Sergt. Lowell' Well, I was as glad 
 to see them as they were me. 
 
 " Lieut. Milton ordered me to organize a gun detachment 
 for one gun, as Sergt. Whittemore and myself were the only 
 sergeants there. In the afternoon I went to Cemetery Hill 
 with the gun." 
 
 It is said that Samuel Toby was captured as he was pass- 
 ing Trostle's house, and drawn in at a window ; was paroled 
 at -Richmond, exchanged, and returned to the Battery. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 8 1 
 
 Corp. Adams, chief of the caisson of the first gun, says : 
 " I noticed as we came up, an abandoned gun, and during 
 the heat of the engagement, as the ammunition was giving 
 out, Corp. Brown and myself brought eight rounds from that 
 gun. It is said that John Ligal saved himself by braining a 
 Confederate with his rammer head." 
 
 Bugler Reynolds was watching the firing, and thought one 
 of the gunners was firing too high, so called out, " Pint your 
 gun a little lower, Bill." 
 
 Much has been written about the action, and the part the 
 9th Battery took in the engagement. Of the war corre- 
 spondents of the press, both C. C. Coffin and Whitelaw Reid 
 mention the part we took in the engagement, but their 
 information, although written at the time, must have been 
 from other witnesses than themselves. Their word pictures 
 were graphic, and cheered our friends at home, and many a 
 parent was comforted that their sons served in so heroic an 
 engagement. 
 
 In the Century Magazine for December, 1886, Gen. E. P. 
 Alexander, Chief of Artillery in Longstreet's Corps, has an 
 illustrated article in which is a view of the charge of Alexan- 
 der's Artillery. Now it seems that if ever it was proper to 
 speak of a charge of a battery, ours was a charge across 
 Trostle's field; also before Petersburg in support of Gen. 
 Chamberlain. 
 
 Darkness and weariness prevailed ; firing ceased ; both 
 sides inspected their own lines and withdrew or advanced as 
 best secured their positions. The 21st Mississippi Regi- 
 ment was withdrawn to the vicinity of the Peach Orchard, 
 
82 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 and both sides advanced their pickets to near Trostle's 
 buildings. 
 
 Our wounded men were scattered. Capt. Bigelow lay in a 
 barn near where we crossed the Taneytown road. The 
 
 writer lay in the basement of a barn in the rear of Little 
 Round Top, and distinctly heard the yells of the enemy as 
 they prevailed between the Round Tops, also the cheers of our 
 boys as they drove them back ; and I thanked God for the 
 cheering sound. I did not see any one of the 9th Battery 
 boys, except Lieut. Whitaker at Baltimore, until December, 
 at Brandy Station. 
 
 Lieut. Milton was left in command of the Battery with one 
 sergeant and four gunners. There was so little left that it 
 was doubtful if we could remain a separate organization ; but 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 83 
 
 Lieut. Milton showed so much energy in repairing damages 
 and in equipping, that he reported for duty with two guns in 
 the morning. All the men uninjured reported for duty, but 
 as the detachments were so broken up, volunteers were 
 called for to man the two guns for immediate service, and 
 waited for orders until afternoon, when First Lieut. Macomber 
 of a regular battery, with three guns, reported to him, saying, 
 
 "Maj. wished you would report at Cemetery Hill at 
 
 once." " I think I should report to you instead of you to 
 me," was the answer. On Lieut. Macomber saying, "It is all 
 right," he mounted his battery and broke from the right into 
 call of piece, started for the hill, arriving just after Pickett's 
 repulse. 
 
 We were under a straggling fire the remainder of the day 
 and night ; men fell around us, but we escaped. 
 
 Our position was about midway in the line on the ridge 
 between the Baltimore pike and the clump of trees toward 
 which Pickett charged. The place is known as Zeigler's 
 Grove. The next clay, the infantry, as well as ourselves, were 
 troubled by sharpshooters in a barn, 600 or 800 yards in 
 our front. The commander of the line in front of us asked 
 the Lieutenant to dislodge them, and two or three well- 
 directed shells made lively work of them and burnt the barn. 
 Soon Gen. Meade and staff rode up full of wrath, inquiring 
 by whose order the firing was done. We were not troubled 
 any more by them. 
 
 We had collected all the valuable part of our Battery, and 
 Sunday, the 5th of July, we left Gettysburg, went 
 to Littleton, arriving in Frederick City the 8th, 
 
8 4 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 reducing our equipment to a four gun battery. Those of the 
 Battery left at Gettysburg were widely scattered ; some were 
 in the 3d Corps hospitals on Rock Creek; several in a house 
 
 on the Baltimore pike; some on the Taneytown road. Sam 
 Toby was captured 'as he was passing Trostle's house, and 
 pulled in the window. 
 
 Second Lieut. R. S. Milton was promoted to be senior first 
 lieutenant vice C. Erickson, killed ; and First Sergt. G. H. 
 Prescott, who was at home on recruiting service, to be senior 
 second lieutenant ; also July 20, Lieut. Foster, also at 
 home, to be junior first lieutenant, and Quartermaster Sergt. 
 Reed to be second lieutenant. 
 
 Among the Battery papers are several letters in regard to 
 the killed of the Battery, asking if their remains cannot be 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 85 
 
 sent home. Also a number from the wounded, stating their 
 condition and prospects of returning again. All are cheer- 
 ful ; none regret their service at Gettysburg. 
 Two letters received are here inserted : 
 
 Boston, July 14, 1863. 
 Lieut. R. S. Milton, Headquarters 9th Battery, Mass. Vols., 
 Frederick City, Md. 
 Please try to forward Erickson's body to widow. Will pay. 
 
 J. W. Coolidge, 
 
 Tract House, 28 Cornhill, Boston. 
 
 P. S. I was going to telegraph, but the wires are broken at 
 
 New York by rioters. Could not Erickson's body be exhumed and 
 
 sent home ? The widow feels very, very anxious to have him 
 
 buried by herself, even if he is so decayed as not to be seen. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 J. W. Coolidge. 
 
 Boston, July 29, 1863. 
 Capt. John Bigelow, 9th Mass. Battery. 
 
 Dear Sir: — Alex. H. Whitaker, First Lieut. 9th Mass. Battery, 
 wounded in the knee joint at Gettysburg, Pa., July 2, arrived at 
 my residence in Roxbury from the hospital in Baltimore, Md., on 
 Friday, July 17, and died in consequence of his wounds on Monday, 
 July 20. I have reported the case, enclosing surgeon's certificate, 
 to the Adjt. -General at Washington, under date of July 27. 
 
 I am yours very truly, 
 
 Eben Alexander. 
 
 Of the seventeen who were wounded, probably no two had 
 the same experience, and the haps and mishaps of one will 
 answer for others, and I will give my own experience after I 
 
86 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 left the field. I received the compliments of the enemy the 
 second time on my shoulder and left breast, while shelling 
 Kershaw's line of battle, just before orders were given to fix 
 prolonge. I found myself completely disabled, and was 
 ordered to the rear. I tried to get my overcoat or blanket 
 from my saddle, but could not. I was directed to the 3d 
 Corps hospital on the Taneytown road, the east side of Little 
 Round Top. It was rather hard getting along, but by sling- 
 ing my left arm with my right, I was relieved, and although 
 quite sore in my hip, where one of the enemy's balls was 
 hidden, I made the best time I could to get out of range of 
 the enemy's fire. 
 
 The 3d Corps hospital was in and about a large bank barn. 
 The operating table was a barn door laid on two barrels, and 
 I noticed quite a pile of legs at one end, and arms at the 
 other, and two or three surgeons were busily at work. My 
 wounds were not immediately dangerous, and I sat on a 
 stone to wait. A hospital steward, not busy, asked me if I 
 was wounded. "There is a ball somewhere in my hip ; see 
 if you can locate it ; " and running his hand over it, he found 
 it about six inches from where it entered. " Can't you cut 
 it out ? " " I think so," and taking a small case of instru- 
 ments from his pocket, cut, and found it embedded near the 
 joint of the hip. He took it out, dressed the wound with 
 lint and water, took me to the basement of the barn and left 
 me, bringing some beef broth after dark. About dusk, the 
 action seemed to increase on the Round Tops, and I distinctly 
 heard the yells of the enemy as they pressed back our men, 
 and the enemy seemed to be coming nearer. For a moment 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 87 
 
 I feared we were beaten, and in my helplessness turned to 
 the Father of us all, and earnestly called on him to aid, that 
 the right might prevail ; and soon thanks were given, as the 
 yells ceased, drowned by the cheers of the 20th Maine Regi- 
 ment. 
 
 The night passed ; not much sleep. Having to keep the 
 body in one position was not very easy, which, together with 
 the constant groaning, made daylight welcome. 
 
 At daylight, every man that could walk was ordered to 
 start for the new hospital on Rock Creek. As the present 
 place was unsafe, it was vacated, and one or two miles south- 
 east, in a piece of woods on either side of the creek, I found 
 a large number of tents pitched, and under a gun tarpaulin, 
 in the artillery hospital of the 3d Corps, I made my home 
 from Saturday to Wednesday morning, July 7. Four yards 
 from our shelter ran Rock Creek, three yards wide, with 
 three to six inches of water running over a stony channel, 
 two feet below the bank we were on. Of my companions 
 not one had I ever seen before, and like myself they could care 
 for themselves. The most severely wounded — a ball through 
 both thighs — was the most cheerful. Considerable rain fell, 
 but Rock Creek was not full. 
 
 Wednesday morning at daylight, orders were, "All that can 
 walk start for Gettysburg town." It had rained all night ; 
 Rock Creek was a torrent, impassable, and we were obliged 
 to start, as the ground where we were would soon be flooded. 
 We toiled on, scattering more and more, according to our 
 ability to walk. One of the causeways on the Baltimore pike 
 was covered with eight or ten inches of water, but the well- 
 
88 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 known landmark, the brick gateway of the Evergreen Ceme- 
 tery, then battered by cannon balls, was passed, and soon the 
 village was entered. We were directed to the Christian 
 Commission room, and coffee and sandwiches refreshed us. 
 About midday it began to clear off, and a train of commissary 
 and hospital stores was being unloaded, and was soon filled 
 with wounded and started for Baltimore. The accommoda- 
 tions were not the best — a box car with a wet floor we had. 
 Our first stop was Hanover Junction, and we met a grateful 
 people ; good coffee, sandwiches and cakes were brought ; 
 old men, women, boys and girls welcomed us. It was late in 
 the afternoon when we left. The train stopped at two other 
 places after dark, and we were bountifully supplied. We 
 arrived in Baltimore about 2 A.M., and the Union part of 
 the city was awake. We were served with coffee, and our 
 wounds were washed and dressed ; the first time for thirty-six 
 hours. Shops, stores, houses were opened, and we were 
 made welcome ; but the hospitals of Baltimore were full 
 already, and we that could must go farther north. 
 
 While waiting for the train, some one told me that an 
 officer of a Massachusetts battery was in a hospital near. 
 Acting at once, I found Lieut. Whitaker lying in bed with a 
 shattered knee, the first I knew he was wounded. I remem- 
 ber just how he looked : his knee was raised, his face flushed, 
 feverish and restless. I could do nothing, but found a brother 
 Mason and sent to him. Immediately the train started. In the 
 afternoon we arrived in Philadelphia, and again at the old 
 cooper shop we were refreshed. Here I met a brother of 
 Corp. Brown, passing on to Washington as fast as possible. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 89 
 
 Again the train is ready and we rolling north again. All 
 this time I was a passive passenger, going 1 knew not where. 
 A tedious night passed, and about daylight the train stopped 
 at the Centre street station, Newark, N. J. I was assigned 
 to ward six ; one end of the room overlooking the station, the 
 other a wharf on the Passaic, and miles of the river and 
 country beyond. We had a good surgeon and an old soldier 
 of the regular army for nurse. During my stay of six months 
 I could have a pass every day if wanted, and was out a great 
 deal. Within a week a large number were missing, having 
 taken a furlough without leave. 
 
 After the first month, I was only troubled by the wound 
 in my hip. Many worse wounds than mine were healed, and 
 in September orders were issued for an examination of those 
 to be sent to the front. I reported with others, and told 
 them I wanted to go to the front. I was laughed at, and 
 told, " You never can do service at the front ; you must go in 
 the Invalid Corps." Well, I was not disappointed. I had 
 tried at every opportunity for a furlough, and had the 
 endorsement of the surgeon of the ward, but it did not come, 
 and I would not leave without. They tried to detail me as 
 nurse, acting hospital steward, hospital postmaster, but I 
 knew I was fixed there if I accepted. I had many letters to 
 aid me in getting a furlough, among others one from Geo. S. 
 Boutelle, Member of Congress from my district, but I did 
 not use it, as I felt that I had as good a right to a furlough 
 as many others I knew, and I would have it by right if at all. 
 About this time my wife and son, accompanied by my 
 brother, visited me. Rev. E. P. Baker, being temporarily an 
 6 
 
90 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 agent of the Christian Commission, in a few hours took 
 passage for the South, and for three days my pass was for 
 twenty-four hours. 
 
 I made several pleasant acquaintances in the city, and Rev. 
 Mr. Mcllvine, chaplain at the hospital, invited me to his 
 house, so 1 had no reason to be discontented. But I could 
 not content myself, although the surgeon told me I was 
 preventing my wound from healing. 
 
 Finally, about the middle of November, I received a fur- 
 lough. I went home and returned promptly on time, having 
 a good sized valise filled for the boys at the front. On my 
 reporting to the surgeon in charge, he said, " I suppose you 
 are all well now ? " I told him, " I feel as well as ever I did, 
 and I wish you would give me an order to report to the 9th 
 Mass. Battery immediately." Showed him my valise of 
 underclothes for the boys who were in need of them, and 
 other reasons I gave. After a few words, he told me to 
 report at noon, and he would give me an order to get my 
 transportation in New York city, one half hour distant. 
 Well, the dust of Newark did not stick to me long, as at 8 
 P.M. I took passage for Washington, arriving at daylight, 
 and at Brandy Station about 5 P.M., and the camp of the 
 Battery about 8 P.M ; and about two weeks after my hip was 
 healed. 
 
 Again we are on the march with the army. We cross the 
 Potomac at Berlin, July 16, and following on the 
 
 ^ " left flank of the enemy, we arrive at Warrenton, 
 July 24 ; and August 1 finds us at Warrenton Junction, where 
 we remain till September 17, when we camp at Culpepper. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 91 
 
 Lieut. Foster and First Sergt. Prescott having returned, the 
 Battery is in good working order, but has no duty but 
 marching. Again we retire, and October 11, we are near 
 Rappahannock Station, and the 14th finds us at Centerville, 
 with a possible third battle of Bull Run in prospect ; but with 
 no fighting, we follow the enemy back to Warren ton the 
 26th. November 8, at Kelly's Ford ; 26th, at Germania 
 Ford ; 27th, Wilderness ; 30th, Locust Grove, taking part in 
 the Mine Run campaign. December 2, returned to Brandy 
 Station, remaining in the vicinity till the 13th, when we were 
 ordered to go into winter quarters. 
 
 MINE RUN. 
 
 In the Mine Run campaign we took our part of mud, cold 
 and rain, and at last, after we had bivouacked for the night, 
 orders came that we were to march at 5 o'clock, and that we 
 were the eighth battery in the column. The night passed as 
 uncomfortable as any. At 5 our horses were fed and partly 
 harnessed; men were busy over the fires, and Captain was 
 waiting for the first battery to move, when an officer rode up 
 and saluted with : " Capt. Bigelow, are you ready to move?" 
 "Yes, sir." "Then file out at once and take that road," 
 pointing toward the way we came. " I have been to eight 
 batteries and none are ready, and I have placed their com- 
 manders all under arrest." The Captain mounted, called 
 attention, and there was busy work for a moment, and one of 
 the pieces filed out, and in going into the road ran on a 
 stump, and before it was cleared, the others were ready to 
 
92 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 follow, and we took our place at the head of the column, 
 saved our reputation, and had a better road. 
 
 In reviewing the work of the Battery since it recrossed the 
 Potomac, I learned but little. By endorsements on papers 
 on file I find that Capt. Bigelow had returned to the com- 
 mand of the Battery August 18, and on the same 
 
 Aug. 18. . 
 
 day was Col. McGilvery's order for cutting hair 
 and trimming beards. Probably B. E. Murray, C. A. Gwin, 
 and D. P. Doyle, were busy for a few days. Also an order 
 of enquiry why a drill was omitted, that was ordered August 
 28, shows that the Colonel kept his eyes open, and kept the 
 men busy. There are many orders for details of guards 
 and orderlies. 
 
 September 9. Byron Porter died at convalescent U. S. 
 Army Hospital ; reported as belonging to the 9th Massachu- 
 setts* Battery. 
 
 September 12. Correspondence commenced in regard to 
 clothing turned in at Frederick City and lost; later a board 
 of survey was ordered in the matter, but we got no favorable 
 report. 
 
 In the early autumn, descriptive lists were received at the 
 Battery of four recruits enlisted by Lieut. Foster ; viz. : 
 Byron Porter, Cornelius Sexton, William Adderly, and John 
 Castelan. Of these, only Cornelius Sexton ever arrived at 
 the Battery. 
 
 October 5, the quartermaster sergeant was the subject of 
 some correspondence between the headquarters of 
 
 Oct. 5. . . 
 
 the army in regard to tearing down a building in 
 violation of certain orders, and charges were ordered to be 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 93 
 
 preferred against him. The paper bears the signatures of 
 Gen. A. A. Humphreys, chief of staff; Gen. Hunt, chief of 
 artillery ; Gen. R. O. Tyler, and Col. McGilvery. In ex- 
 amining the case, Capt. Bigelow sums up as follows : 
 
 {Extract.) Being in ignorance of the fact that he was violating 
 any general orders of the Army of the Potomac. General Order 
 No. 122; A. of P., dated May 11. 1862, referred to, was issued three 
 months before the Battery was mustered into the U. S. service, and 
 consequently never received by the commanding officer and pro- 
 mulgated to the command. If compatible with the rules of the 
 
 service, I would respectfully request that Sergt. be released 
 
 from arrest, and that a copy of General Order No. 122, A. of P., 
 1862, be furnished to be promulgated to this command. 
 
 I remain, Captain, your obedient servant. 
 
 JOHN BIGELOW, 
 Capt. Commanding gth Massachusetts Battery. 
 
 Gunner Dawes returned to the command early in the sum- 
 mer, and December 13th found Gunner Hessie, Privates 
 Barnard, Downing, Thos. Fisher, McDavitt, Quartermaster 
 Reed (now lieutenant), and prisoner S. Toby, all present ; 
 and Sergt. Baker arrived the 12th of December, and the 
 13th or 14th Sergt. Murray came back. Sergt. Hirst and 
 Private J. K. Norwood were discharged. John B. Stowe, 
 Louis Langeleer and J. A. McCarty were transferred to the 
 Veteran Reserve Corps. 
 
 CAMP AT BRANDY STATION. 
 
 The morning of the 13th we break camp on the east of the 
 railroad at Brandy Station, and go with the reserve 
 
 1/cC, 10. .,, . 11 c 1 
 
 artillery to a rise one mile northwest 01 the station, 
 

NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 
 
 95 
 
 and pitch our tents in a rain storm, and soon lay out a camp 
 overlooking the station, railroad, and the intervening plain. 
 We built stockades for ourselves about three and one half 
 
 — I?.d 
 
 feet high, covered with four shelter tents ; also fireplaces of 
 stone, bricks and mud. From the 23d to the 26th we built 
 stables of wind-break and floor, splitting oak logs thirty feet 
 long in halves, and our horses were very comfortable. We 
 soon had our oven ready, and we seldom failed having our 
 baked beans Sunday morning. 
 
 Some of our men are detailed at brigade headquarters. 
 October 5, the order was received detailing Lieut. Reed as 
 brigade quartermaster. December 20, J. A. Chapin detailed 
 as forage sergeant at brigade headquarters. 
 
g6 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Until about the 24th of December we were very ragged ; 
 our boots were so poor that they were no protection against 
 mud and water. 
 
 We are now in camp ; our business is to fit ourselves for 
 the spring campaign, and, if possible, to recruit our numbers 
 to a six-gun battery. Men are the first requisites, and officers 
 take measures to gain recruits. Everything else is to be 
 gained by requisition. Soon after Sergt. Murray returned 
 he was promoted to orderly sergeant. 
 
 January 23, we received our first instalment of twenty 
 horses, and the 28th, nine men came. Battery 
 and squad drills became the fashion again. About 
 this time Capt. Bigelow went home on sick leave, having 
 returned before he had recovered from the Gettysburg cam- 
 paign. The winter was wet, as usual, and not very cold ; 
 much of the time we could only care for our camp and horses, 
 our mails were quite regular, and we were very comfortable. 
 
 Feb. 11. A letter was received today for Adolph Lipman, 
 who was killed at Gettysburg. It was postmarked 
 
 Feb. 11. 
 
 Riga, Russia, and was sent to Dead Letter Office. 
 This incident recalls him to us again. He is remembered 
 by all, officers and men, only with pleasure and esteem. He 
 was one of many in the Battery who came alone, had no 
 immediate friends, but made friends of all. He was never in 
 trouble, was cheerful ; spoke French readily, English fairly; 
 smoked cigarettes at first, making them as he used them. 
 He never talked of himself or where he came from, and an 
 air of mystery surrounded him ; his whole appearance 
 denoted a man of education and refinement, and had seen 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 
 
 97 
 
 much of the world. In a letter from Alfred Clement, who 
 was better acquainted with him than many others, he says: 
 " His whole life seemed to me to be shrouded in mystery; 
 his whole bearing showed clearly, however, that he had 
 moved in higher circles, and had been in better circum- 
 stances. He was versed perfectly in all the ways of the 
 world." " Peace to his ashes." 
 
 - About this time seventeen recruits joine 1 us, and two new 
 detachments were formed. Corps. Hessie and Dawes 
 were' assigned to them as actin<i sergeants. 
 
 February 12. Capt. Bigelow returned today; also Lieut. 
 Prescott, who also had been home. Capt. Bigelow was 
 
98 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 immediately assigned to the command of the Brigade, and 
 Lieut. Foster as adjutant. He did not long remain there, as 
 the 23d he went home on recruiting service. 
 
 About one month ago, Stable Sergt. J. A. Chapin broke 
 his arm, and the 15th he received a furlough, and was never 
 able to return for duty. J. P. Ayers was discharged because 
 of mental disease. 
 
 February 26. Paid off; there is more gambling than 
 usual, but the tables are turned, and some of the former 
 winners are losers. Capt. Bigelow sent his orderly and 
 called the sergeants to headquarters. They all reported, and 
 stood in line waiting for Capt. B., not knowing what was up. 
 Soon appearing and being paler than usual, made the mystery 
 greater. He said, " Sergeants, I hear that gambling prevails 
 in camp to considerable extent ; I cannot tolerate it, and I 
 want your assistance to stop it." They all promised to do 
 all possible to aid him, and at night a general order was read 
 prohibiting it. 
 
 Our camp life is full of incidents. One of our sergeants 
 was put in charge of a detail from the Brigade to lay out and 
 improve the grounds about headquarters. 
 
 While Capt. Bigelow was commanding the Brigade, he had 
 occasion in inspecting some of the batteries to find fault with 
 the condition of the tents, clothing, and sanitary condition of 
 the camp. He was asked by the officers if his own Battery 
 was any better. He told them that he was going to inspect 
 it in the afternoon, and invited a couple of captains to go 
 with him and see for themselves. They came and were 
 surprised at the cleanliness of the camp quarters, cookhouse 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS liATTERV. 
 
 99 
 
 and clothing, and said, "You had this all prepared for us." 
 He answered, " All duties are done promptly and system- 
 atically, and we are always ready for inspection." 
 
 "oo/rs -qU^ere * s - &• -e^>t>/?-A'0&S£ - Brandy y™Z' ay! * — /&, ■--=•-— 
 
 The event of the day was the arrival of the mail, and 
 happy the man who had letters. 
 
 One sergeant complained of a bad smell in the tent, and a 
 corporal was accused of causing it. He said he never 
 washed his feet ; at home his wife washed them ; but he was 
 strongly urged to wash, and sitting on a stump, with his 
 coffee dipper, a quart of water and stick, he struggled with 
 the job. 
 
 One corporal, recounting the forenoon's adventures, said, 
 that after getting up in the morning, first, he fell from a 
 three-legged stool, alighting on his shoulder in the fireplace ; 
 then found a kettle of water tipped over from the fire ; then 
 
100 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 spilled another and burned his left hand, also washing the 
 skin off his right hand, tipping over his frying pan of pork 
 and dropping his meat in the dirt. Pretty well for one half 
 day. 
 
 March 11. N. H. Brand reported in the Wash- 
 ington Chronicle as dead. 
 
 Mar. 11. 
 
 ^^f^^^^^^Hfj^O^JSi^ri^^^S^^^- 
 
 One of our lieutenants did not like drill, much less inspec- 
 tion ; and March 6, at a mounted inspection, he could not 
 keep his horse near the line of caissons, and he made him so 
 much trouble, that he left the field and went to camp, amid 
 the laughter of his comrades. 
 
 March 18. Our Battery, with two others, went out for 
 target practice. It was muddy, and our work was poor. 
 Soon after we returned to camp and had unharnessed, we 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. IOI 
 
 were startled by " Boots and saddles," and orders came to 
 prepare for marching, with one bag of grain on each carriage. 
 We were ready promptly, but did not leave the park. We 
 afterwards learned of a skirmish at Morton's Ford, on the 
 Rapidan. 
 
 News has just arrived that Gen. Grant is to take command 
 of the Arm) r of the Potomac. 
 
 .Much 22. About six inches of snow came, and for a day 
 or two it was cold ; but the fourth day the ground was bare. 
 
 March 27. An order is issued to prepare for the field. 
 We are preparing our clothing for a campaign ; our order is 
 one blanket, overcoat, jacket, blouse, pants, boots, cap, three 
 outside shirts, three pairs stockings, one half shelter tent. 
 Our ammunition is being changed ; a new canister of eighty 
 balls instead of twenty-seven is given us. Our duties are in 
 camp now ; our harnesses are to be thoroughly inspected 
 and oiled; saddles and blankets clean; halters and nose bass 
 whole ; all our ordnance stores in order. 
 
 March 29. About forty horses came today. Two regi- 
 ments of heavy artillery have come from the defences of 
 Washington and camped near us ; one of the men came to 
 our camp inquiring, "Where are the forts we are to gar- 
 rison ? " He was told, " Beyond the Rapid Anna, and you 
 have got to take them first." He seemed astonished. 
 
 March 30. The order for reorganization was read ; the old 
 men remain as before, new men assigned to detachments, 
 non-commissioned officers changed all round. 
 
 April 1. Eight more men came, and April 3 a commis- 
 sion for Corp. F. C. Tucker, in the 3d New Jersey Regiment 
 
102 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 arrived. His was the first commission out of the Battery ; 
 he went home on a furlough and did not join the army until 
 we were near Spottsylvania. 
 
 April 14. Capt. Bigelow is relieved by Maj. Fitzhugh, and 
 is again with the Battery ; also Lieut. Foster returned from 
 recruiting service. Lieut. Reed is detailed for duty in the 
 ambulance train of the reserve artillery. Also the order for 
 transfer to the navy took Thomas F. Tuttle, James Gordon, 
 William Strong and F. M. Shaw. 
 
 April 18. Review by Gen. Grant of the reserve artillery, 
 three brigades. 
 
 April 23. We have six guns at last. The past week has 
 been full of inspections ; first, by company officers ; 
 ^ ' then, by brigade commander Maj. Fitzhugh, and by 
 
 Col. Munroe, under whom we took our last lessons in Camp 
 Barry, in 1862, when we graduated and went into the 
 defences of Washington. The Colonel still found us at the 
 front, as he said we were one of the best batteries he ever 
 inspected, Still we have plenty to do ; our experience is 
 not thrown away on us ; we are making thorough prepara- 
 tions. The most of us are particular about our clothing, and 
 many of our jackets are made over and altered to fit better; 
 pants resewed, suspenders made, underclothing in good 
 order. We never looked so well clothed in proper fitting 
 garments as now, and our knapsacks are the envy of other 
 battery officers. 
 
 As the time is near when we shall leave these quarters, 
 and the future we do not know, a few things should be noted 
 here. The health of this camp has been excellent, the loca- 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. I03 
 
 tion was well chosen. The location was pleasant, no bat- 
 tery being in our front ; the camp was well drained ; our 
 commissary was well cared for ; good cookhouse ; good 
 cooks ; Commissary Sergt. John Ouincy Adams, the right 
 man in the right place. Our horses fared as well as the 
 men ; Stable Sergeant Horatio Knights wielded the measure 
 faithfully. Our new men found good instructors in the man- 
 ual and other duties, and good advisers. Among the detach- 
 ment officers, few wished to shirk ; none could. 
 
 One year ago, April 17, we hauled out of park at Fort 
 Ramsey, having passed a rather uncomfortable winter; sick- 
 ness and other causes had taken from us some of the men 
 who were forward in detachment and team, and their places 
 had been filled by promotion. The campaign following had 
 taken from us by death our two first lieutenants, who ably 
 filled their place, and three sergeants who were missed by 
 us all ; and as we are ready for the field, we find that our 
 recruits of four weeks are as well fitted as we were in four 
 months. 
 
 April 27. Spring is coming on, the mud is settling, rains 
 less frequent, and we are still at work preparing to move. 
 
 Tuesday, May 3, we are ready for the field; we have orders 
 to take six days' rations of bread, coffee and sugar; that at 
 midnight "boots and saddles " would be sounded. Our last 
 night in our log houses, and we feel as if we were leaving 
 home; we have taken much comfort and enjoyment in them, 
 and we leave them forever. Although many of us are 
 anxious for more active service, yet there is a minor strain 
 running through our conversation, as we sit around our 
 
Mm* i u > 
 
 ■i ^ 
 
 If!'}' w 
 
 y c "I'll; § 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 
 
 I05 
 
 fireplaces on our boxes, three-legged stools and blocks, eat 
 our last loaf of soft bread and drink our coffee, sort over our 
 letters, burn all but the last. As "taps" sound, we blow out 
 
 our inch of candle and pull up the blankets about us. We 
 dream of the bivouac fire, our pot of coffee on it, and holding 
 a pan of steaming pork over it ; but the bugle calls and we 
 are astir. The general order of Maj. Fitzhugh, 3d Brigade 
 Artillery Reserve, for the march places us on the right of the 
 Brigade, and to be ready to march at 2 A.M., May 4. 
 
 May 4, 1864. It is nearly twenty-one months since we 
 „„. entered the service, and we seem to be no nearer 
 
 May 4 1864. 
 
 ' ' the end than when we commenced ; but we do 
 
 not expect to do much countermarching this summer ; expect 
 our new commander will lead us forward, but how many of 
 
 7 
 
106 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 us will lie by the wayside, we know not. As the sergeants 
 step to the front and call the roll, there are many new names 
 to answer "here." Another nine months and they will be 
 veterans; perhaps some will have to be "accounted for." 
 That was a pleasing ceremony in the old French army ; when 
 any soldier conspicuous for bravery was killed, that at sunset 
 roll call, when his name was called, the sergeant stepped to 
 the front and answered, "Died on the field of battle." Such 
 might be the honor some of our comrades are entitled to. 
 
 It is Wednesday morning; our horses are eating; the 
 cooks are busy ; we strap our knapsacks, roll our blankets 
 and overcoats, take the roofs of our stockades, which are to 
 be our shelters now ; all are securely strapped on the limbers 
 and saddles. Breakfast call, and we get our last breakfast 
 from the cookhouse ; then harness, and at daylight haul out 
 of park and are ready to take our place in column. 
 
 The reserve artillery slowly gets in motion, with its heavy- 
 ammunition train. Our marches are short, our halts many ; 
 there is at least one corps in advance of us, and the road is 
 strewn with clothing, a great deal of it new. There are 
 thousands of blankets, overcoats, blouses, pants, shirts, etc. ; 
 the day was warm, the load too much. 
 
 About 4 P.M. we cross the Rapid Anna, at Ely's Ford. 
 Some of the boys are nibbling on their hard tack, and in two 
 clays six days' rations are gone. The campaign has begun ; 
 we have entered disputed ground. We camp about two miles 
 beyond the ford, at dark, among some rifle pits. 
 
 May 5. At 10 A.M., we slowly commence our march 
 toward the Chancellorsville house. The roads are full of 
 
I08 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 rifle pits, made one year ago ; we see some skeletons as we 
 pass along. About 12 M. skirmishing commenced on our 
 right, and increased till 6 P.M. We first passed the Chan- 
 cellorsville house, went towards Fredericksburg a mile, when 
 we were halted, and came back and turned south on the 
 Orange plank road two miles to 
 
 LAUREL GROVE, WILDERNESS. 
 
 We remained here till the eve of the 7th, being in harness 
 all the time. 
 
 Saturday, May 7. This morning we heard we were fight- 
 ing for the possession of a plank road to Orange 
 Court House, and that the line of battle is nine 
 miles long. History tells us that but little artillery could be 
 used. All day the battle raged, but toward night seemed 
 to recede from us. About 7 P.M., the bugles began " Drivers 
 to horse," " Cannoneers to posts." We filed out of park, 
 back by the Chancellorsville house, and to the right through 
 pine woods and dust. About midnight we bivouac; our 
 horses stand in harness till daylight ; it is all work for them, 
 only unharnessed to be groomed since we started. Our camp 
 is near Piney Grove Church, 600 yards off. 
 
 WILDERNESS TO SPOTTSYLVANIA. 
 
 Sunday, there was a drumhead court martial in the 6th 
 New York Regiment, of a deserter taken in the enemy's 
 lines. We have lost one man by a broken leg. Some are 
 having their first experience in jerking beef, which does 
 very well. 
 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. IO9 
 
 Monday, our horses are put on half rations, but we favor 
 them all we can by giving them grass. We pitched our 
 tents for the first time tonight. 
 
 Tuesday, May 10. Still in camp. Rumor of the enemy's 
 cavalry in our rear. In the afternoon we are ordered out, 
 march one mile, go in battery, change position, break in 
 column of pieces, and are in camp again in forty-five 
 minutes. About one hour after, break camp and go through 
 the pine woods ; the dust is suffocating. 
 
 Our camp is nine miles out of Fredericksburg, at 
 
 ALDRICH CORNER. 
 
 May 12. Our caissons, with those of three other batteries, 
 were ordered to take ammunition to the front at Spottsyl- 
 vania. Lieut. Milton, with three sergeants and the chiefs of 
 caissons were sent ; we delivered the ammunition, and in 
 retiring were shelled, but got out with no damage. 
 
 May 13. Again break camp, move three miles nearer 
 Fredericksburg. Our new base of supplies is all right, and 
 we are on full rations again. A great deal of rain has fallen, 
 and the roads are very muddy. 
 
 May 14. Orders to take five limbers and go after captured 
 guns. The limbers of three batteries brought out thirteen 
 guns from Laurel Hill, captured by the 2d Corps. An 
 accident occurred in the battery in front of us ; a loose plank 
 caught in the off wheel and threw the limber over, and with 
 such force as to throw the off horse over the near horse and 
 on top of the driver. Fortunately the ground was soft mud, 
 
I IO HISTORY OF THE 
 
 and the horses were rolled off and the driver rescued, not 
 much worse for the fall. 
 
 As we were coming out, we met a column of recruits, con- 
 valescents, and furloughed men going in to join their regi- 
 ments and among them Lieut. F. C. Tucker. He found the 
 regiment so badly depleted that he could not be mustered 
 in, and returned home, remaining till December, when he 
 re-enlisted in the Battery. 
 
 An order was read at night congratulating the troops on 
 their successes. 
 
 May 15, Sunday. We are ordered to the rear to support 
 dismounted cavalry who are picketing the rear against a cav- 
 alry attack. Relieved at 2 P.M., return to find the reserve 
 artillery all gone and we take our line of march to 
 
 » 
 
 FREDERICKSBURG. 
 
 Approaching the city from the southwest, we gain a fine view 
 of the city and its defences ; the height is crowned with a 
 series of earthworks, and in front of them, tier on tier for two 
 miles to near the city, forming an amphitheatre of about one 
 quarter circle. We find our baggage a little southeast of 
 the city, and go in camp on a gravel bottom, and are out of 
 the mud. 
 
 May 16. Orders to turn in two guns; all batteries to be 
 four guns. We reorganize our gun teams, repair, shoe 
 horses, and are to report to the 5th Corps. 
 
 May 17. At 10 A.M., break camp, march ten miles on 
 the Richmond plank road to near the river. Four New 
 York batteries are in camp here. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. I I I 
 
 May iS. At daylight, we go to the left to Anderson place 
 to prevent a cavalry surprise; return at 2 P.M., and at sun- 
 rise the next morning cross the river and go in battery in 
 some heavy works beside the road, directly in front of 
 
 SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT HOUSE, 
 
 which is in sight. Our position is in range of seventeen guns, 
 from 1500 to 1700 yards off, and a line of rifle pits 500 or 600 
 yards in front, and only a skirmish line in our front. 
 
 May 20, was a very quiet day, but about 5 P.M., we 
 were startled by an attack in our rear. We were near the 
 right of the line, and Gen. Early had moved by our right and 
 well to the rear, hoping to capture our base of supplies. The 
 opportune arrival of the heavy artillery saved us, but it 
 seemed too near our rear for comfort ; our supports were 
 few but good, as the 9th, 22d, and 32d Massachusetts Regi- 
 ments were near us. 
 
 May 21, Saturday. About 2 A.M. we are all called, and 
 ordered to fill our embrasures with brush, as there 
 
 May 21. . fl , , . 
 
 is some movement among the enemy ; and we haul 
 out and go a mile to the rear, feed, breakfast, and prepare for 
 the next order. At 10 A.M. we move to the left, and have 
 gone but a short distance when the enemy, with two guns, 
 open on the position we have just left; we do not mind it, 
 but keep on our march, past Guiniss' Station on the F. & R. 
 Railroad, cross the river — supposed to be the Po, branch of 
 the Mattapony — on a bridge, the best we have crossed. The 
 enemy were trying to destroy it, but two regiments of infantry 
 
112 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 arrived in time to save it. We camp a short distance beyond, 
 on the road to Hanover Court House. 
 
 May 22, Sunday. Hauled out at sunrise for one half 
 mile. At 10 A.M. we are on the road again ; cross the Ta; 
 pass a soldier in gray shot beside the road. Soon came on 
 the enemy's pickets, and a battery opened on our advance, 
 but were soon driven, and we went on towards Hanover 
 Court House, and at 4 P.M. go in park ; rails are plenty. 
 
 May 23, Monday. At 6 A.M. we are with the 1st Brigade, 
 1st Division, 5th Corps, on the road toward 
 
 
 wzti 
 
 
 
 >1$n 
 
 NORTH ANNA RIVER, 
 
 above Hanover Junction. At Mt. Carmel Church an obstacle 
 appears in the person of the enemy, and again we turn to the 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. I 1 3 
 
 right, and strike the river at Jericho Mills or Ford. The ist 
 Division ford the river ; a canvas pontoon bridge is laid and 
 five batteries of brass guns cross, and wind up a steep bluff. 
 As soon as we reach the top we go in battery, and in two 
 minutes we are at work. In one hour we used 170 rounds of 
 ammunition. The enemy were about one half mile distant, 
 concealed in the woods covering the railroad. We had been 
 firing but a few minutes, when an officer rode out in our 
 front, shouting, " Elevate your guns ; you are firing into our 
 own men." We were ordered to elevate for 800 yards. We 
 could not see the enemy, and elevation was all we had to 
 look out for, and our guns worked pretty briskly. Soon 
 another division charged into the woods from our left, and we 
 slackened our fire. We were in range and under a fire of 
 musketry, and Corp. Lucian Sanderson was killed, shot 
 through the ear ; he was standing on the footboard, serving 
 ammunition from the caisson. He died about midnight. 
 We lay in battery all night ; the men lay at their posts. The 
 enemy's firing continued all night, and some of us lay with 
 our heads toward it, so as not to stop any more minies than 
 necessary. During the cannonading of over an hour, the 
 roar was incessant ; shot and shell were in the air all the 
 time. Gen. Grant, in his dispatch, said it was the most 
 voluminous firing he ever heard. 
 
 Our position was in the centre of the line in battle. Our 
 officers were complimented by Gen. Cutler, of the 4th 
 Division, 5th Corps, which advanced under our fire. This 
 is the first time we have blackened our guns this campaign 
 and we did it well. Some of our gun detachments are 
 
114 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 nearly all new men, but the officers and non-commissioned 
 officers found that their faithful work through the winter was 
 effective. 
 
 May 24. This morning we move about one mile to the 
 front and right, and occupy a knoll that was crowned by the 
 enemy with a battery commanding the approach from Jericho 
 Ford. We reversed their work and commanded the railroad 
 and a range beyond. We see again the ever-welcome face of 
 our quartermaster sergeant here, as he is our postmaster, 
 and brings our seldom-received mail. 
 
 We occupy the battery till the morning of May 26, when 
 we again commence our march down the North Anna to 
 Quarles Ford, or about two miles down the river ; crossed 
 over a bridge to the north bank ; parked about one half mile 
 from the river. What next, we do not know, but can wait 
 till we are wanted. 
 
 We hoped to lay here for a day or two, but at 5 P.M. we 
 watered, fed, and at 7 P.M. were to be ready to move. At 
 6 we had a smart shower, and at 7 we hauled out, went 
 one half mile, parked, and waited till 3 A.M. 
 
 May 27, went one mile and at 6 A.M. commenced our 
 day's work, and at 11 P.M. we have had the hardest march 
 of the season so far ; twenty-three miles of Virginia roads is a 
 long way. We awake in Brandywine, King William County, 
 •three miles from Pamunky River. Our camp is in a last 
 year's cornfield ; after a rain, mud. Some of our horses are 
 used up, but with one or two changes we are ready for the 
 march, and at 6 A.M., May 28, start for the river; cross at 
 10 A.M., and about one mile beyond we go in battery. We 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. I I 5 
 
 give our horses a good feed of clover. This is said to be 
 Newcastle, six miles below Hanover town, where the 2d and 
 6th Corps are lying. 
 
 May 29. We have advanced one mile, and again at night 
 another. 
 
 May 30. Still advancing, but at 6 P.M. a skirmish 
 commences on the right, and we are ordered back. The 
 fight increases, and we are placed in an opening with forests 
 on our right and left ; we are not to fire unless the enemy 
 breaks the line in our front, then we are to take care of them 
 with canister. The crash of musketry is continuous ; three 
 rifled batteries crack their hard shells among the Confederates, 
 and a brass battery rolls its spheres among them. Ammuni- 
 tion was laid by our guns ready for the opening, but our line 
 held ; the enemy were repulsed. So ended the battle of 
 
 BETHESDA CHURCH, 
 
 known as the " Bee Hive." 
 
 June i, found us again going to the left ; soon halt in some 
 breastworks occupied by some Michigan troops, 
 
 June 1. ... . . „ 7 , 
 
 which soon advanced. We were nearly in range, 
 and went back a short distance where the firing was pretty 
 heavy, and went into the woods ; but could not advance with- 
 out cutting our way in, and we were ordered out. In one 
 half hour we were ordered in again. We cut our way in for 
 about one fourth mile, when we were ordered out again. We 
 went back one half mile and took position, and remained all 
 night. 
 
Il6 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 At midnight a detail of two sergeants and twelve men 
 under Capt. Bigelow and one lieutenant started for the picket 
 line. We felt our way, left our horses back of a knoll, and 
 went to the line and commenced throwing up a lunette for 
 three guns. Occasionally a minie would zip near us, and as 
 the day began to dawn they were more frequent. We were 
 somewhat covered by the time the enemy discovered the 
 fresh earth. It was not safe to be seen, as they were only 
 200 yards away. We did not occupy the battery, as the 
 infantry said we could not keep a battery there and they 
 could not save it. 
 
 June 3. We go toward the left with five batteries, park in 
 a field in regular order; about 3 P.M., we get a heavy shower. 
 The enemy discover us and commence to shell us. We get 
 out and go to the right again, and have a narrow escape from 
 their shot. In the night a detail is made to build a battery 
 in the edge of the woods, and at daylight the right section 
 occupy it and at noon we have used eighty-one rounds. The 
 left section come up and go in on our right, but use only 
 twelve rounds. Our position was very favorable, as we were 
 in a hollow, with a plain in front, and were safe from their 
 shot ; scarcely a tree escaped their shot. Many of their shot 
 ricochetted over the plain and cut off trees over our heads ; 
 case shot only troubled us. We have no forage for our horses 
 — " nothing but leaves." This engagement is known as 
 
 TOLOPOTOMY CREEK. 
 
 June 5, Sunday. Forage arrives and the forty-eight hours' 
 fast is broken. No firing for twenty-four hours. We hear 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. W] 
 
 axes in our rear and know we shall have to "get up and get" 
 again ; and after dark we pull out and go to our caissons in 
 the rear, and soon followed the 2d Division through woods 
 about five miles to 
 
 COLD HARBOR. 
 
 We had no mail from the 9th of May till the 3d of June 
 and only a delayed mail till the 7th of June. We are in camp 
 repairing damages of wear and tear, and recruiting generally ; 
 horses, harnesses, clothing, all to be repaired and cleaned. 
 
 When we started from our winter quarters, May 4, we 
 were fresh; some of our men were new, three fourths of our 
 horses were new, and not so good as the year before; our 
 guns and equipments were the same ; our harnesses as good ; 
 our clothing better, in being better fitted and cared for ; our 
 rations good, and we could cook them better. One thing 
 some of us had to learn on this campaign, as we had to in 
 every one after lying in camp some time : to be regular in 
 using our rations. Some of the boys went through theirs 
 before night of the second day; many others always had 
 enough, and could spare a day's rations of hard bread to their 
 less careful comrades, and no one of our boys ever went 
 hungry more than one day. In my notes I do not find that 
 we were short of our regular rations in the Battery. 
 
 Our work so far is quite wearing. We have not made a 
 regular camp, till we came here, since we started; we have 
 pitched our tents several times, but not often regularly, and 
 several times they were struck as soon as pitched. Our 
 
I 1 8 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 marching has been by night more than by day, and it was 
 wearing to men as well as horses, and our six days' rest is 
 most acceptable to us all. We lost a few horses by glanders 
 after we started, but none otherwise ; most of our drivers care 
 for their horses as well as themselves, and would rather be 
 without rations than that their horses should go hungry. 
 
 All our men came to this camp but two: McCarty, 
 
 broke his leg at Piney Grove Church, and Corp. Lucian 
 Sanderson, killed at North Anna. Some are going to hos- 
 pital from this camp. 
 
 Among the many pleasing things to remember, was one 
 the 30th of May. It was said that there was some trouble 
 with some of the Pennsylvania Reserves at the Wilderness ; 
 but at the battle at Bethesda Church we lay in battery behind 
 them, on their last fight. The position was an important 
 one, and for two hours the enemy assailed it ; again and 
 again they charged the point, but unflinchingly the Reserves 
 held on, and at dark the assault had failed. The next morn- 
 ing they marched out of the works, their bands playing " The 
 Campbells are coming, ho, ho," and " Star Spangled Ban- 
 ner"; and as their lines were formed to be mustered out, and 
 the names called, to many the sergeant could step two paces 
 to the front and answer, " Died at the post of duty." 
 
 At two different times we were out of forage, which was 
 during change of base of supplies; the first change was to 
 Fredericksburg ; then farther down the Rappahannock to 
 White House Landing ; then James River. In the new 
 sections the cavalry got all the corn there was and not much 
 of that. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. I 19 
 
 June 11. We break camp at 2 P.M., and march northeast 
 
 three miles, then southeast four or five ; cross the 
 limp 1 i 
 
 Richmond & West Point Railroad at the summit, 
 
 and go about two miles beyond, and at n A.M. park. 
 
 June 12. Our camp is near Baltimore Crossroads until 
 near 7.30 P.M., when we are again moving, over a good road 
 for six miles, to near Long Bridge, across the Chickahominy 
 River. 
 
 June 13. We cross at about 6 A.M., and turn to the right 
 toward Richmond ; we park about two miles farther up. 
 We are with troops that are on picket against any surprise, 
 and to cover the movement below. At 5 P.M. we haul out 
 and return the way we came to Long Bridge, then turn to 
 the right and make about twelve miles without much delay, 
 arriving about 12, midnight, at camp. The morning of 
 June 14, finds us encamped on Dr. Clark's plantation, 
 near 
 
 CHARLES CITY COURT HOUSE. 
 
 We are in a beautiful country; extensive wheat fields are 
 all around us ; our camp is in one of twenty acres, good 
 wheat, well filled, totally destroyed. Well, the enemy wont 
 harvest much wheat or corn here this summer. The James 
 River is one mile south of here ; we hear the steamers 
 blowing off steam. 
 
 We were called at 1 A.M., June 16, and at sunrise we 
 start for the river, past Charles City Court House to Wilcox 
 Landing or Swine Ford; past a house and landing called 
 
120 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Wine Oaks ; out on a sand bar to the end of the longest 
 pontoon bridge ever laid. We all dismounted and led our 
 horses across, and we felt better when we were on terra firma 
 again. We marched about one mile and parked early in the 
 forenoon ; unharnessed, groomed, fed, and prepared for a long 
 march. About 5 P.M. we are on the road, going west and 
 southwest all night. About daylight we begin to hear 
 musketry and artillery firing, increasing and sounding nearer 
 until we halt, about 7 A.M. 
 
 June 17. The night was hot and dusty, and we were tired. 
 Until 11 A.M., we wait and rest as well as we can. Again 
 we move, still nearer the enemy, until occasionally a shell or 
 shot comes bounding by us, tearing up the ground. Here 
 we lay in reserve, with several other batteries, all night. 
 The shot of the enemy annoyed us somewhat. I remember 
 one coming over my gun and caisson, and striking the 
 ground twenty yards in the rear, in a regiment of infantry 
 lying down, killing two men. 
 
 PETERSBURG. 
 
 June 18 finds us before Petersburg, and as the sun rose 
 hot the firing increased. We were ordered to the 
 left and to take position on a road running south- 
 east from Petersburg — the Suffolk plank road. As we were 
 approaching our position, one shot cut the throats of the pole 
 horses on the left piece, and we had to commence work with 
 three guns. In a few minutes the fourth gun opened, but we 
 were at long range, and probably did small execution. We 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS I'.ATTERY. 121 
 
 only used sixteen rounds, when we were ordered to another 
 position. We crossed the Norfolk Railroad on a bridge 
 covered with poles, and halted in a place that was swept by 
 the enemy's guns; soon countermarched, and behind a slight 
 ridge lay till 4 P.M., when we are ordered in again. Three 
 batteries start, one halts, and only the 9th Mass. and 15th 
 New York, Capt. Hart, go in. We trot down a wood road 
 one eighth of a mile, that was swept by a fire of musketry, 
 down a slope, through a ravine, up another slope, going in 
 battery before we reach the summit, and running our guns 
 by hand to the front, until our range is clear. We open 
 immediately and vigorously, firing as fast as possible. The 
 infantry are swarming back through our line, and it looks 
 like a repulse. We work with all our might ; we must check 
 the counter charge or we are lost, as we cannot get out very 
 easily. Our guns are getting hot ; they are recoiling down 
 the hill, but we run them to the front every time, and hold 
 our position. The right gun, of which the writer was chief, 
 was well served by Gunner Hall, and met with only slight 
 casualties. The second, Sergt. Lowell, with Gunner Lincoln, 
 alternated its shot with the first ; but early in the action, 
 while sighting his gun, Gunner Lincoln was shot in the 
 mouth, falling backwards alongside the trail of the gun. As 
 he fell, his head lay in his hat, which was full of blood. He 
 was carried to the rear, and at night buried in his rubber 
 blanket. Lieut. Milton orders up Corp. Manning, who serves 
 the gun. 
 
 The left section, Lieut. Foster, with Sergts. Park and 
 Dawes, also held its place and kept up its fire. Sergts. Park 
 
122 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 and Dawes went a little to the front to get a better view of 
 the enemy, when Sergt. Dawes fell, struck in the bowels, and 
 was carried from the field to a field hospital near our position ; 
 he died the 21st at 7 A.M. There were three others slightly 
 wounded, but no others disabled. One horse killed and one 
 wounded. 
 
 After using about 200 rounds, the enemy's fire slackened, 
 and Capt. Bigelow ordered us to entrench our position ; the 
 drivers assist in bringing rails, and by dark we are quite well 
 covered. 
 
 There are a few incidents, connected with this afternoon, 
 that I have never seen in history, but will record here, in 
 which President Chamberlain of Bowdoin College was a 
 prominent actor. One part of it is taken from the Congrega- 
 tionalist of Boston; the other from a letter of Maj. Bigelow, 
 commanding the Battery at that time. 
 
 At the dedication of the new Memorial Hall at Bowdoin Col- 
 lege, July 12, 1882, one of the speakers was Gen. Ellis Spear, 
 formerly commissioner of patents at Washington. He drew a 
 graphic sketch of the charge at Petersburg, Va., under command 
 of Gen. Chamberlain, who was then a general in the army before 
 Richmond. It was a time when the Confederate batteries on the 
 heights at Petersburg were harassing the Union forces, and it was 
 necessary that they should be silenced. Gen. Chamberlain was 
 selected as the one man most fit to lead an attack upon them. He 
 was told what was wanted of him, and he asked what plan had 
 been made. ' A direct assault,' was the reply. Wishing to under- 
 stand his ground, Gen. Chamberlain rode out to reconnoitre, and 
 found, in the route which must be taken for a direct assault, that 
 there was a railroad cut, some twelve or fifteen feet deep, in which 
 wires had been strung to impede and entangle the soldiers, should 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 1 23 
 
 they advance that way. They would be thrown into confusion and 
 be subject to a pitiless fire while helpless in the cut. So Gen. 
 Chamberlain took another course. Leading his men in a detour, 
 he formed them in shelter of woods at the nearest point possible to 
 the batteries frowning from the heights of Petersburg. Then the 
 order for attack was given, and the soldiers rushed toward the 
 enemy. A terrible fire was opened upon them. Three times was 
 Gen. Chamberlain's horse shot under him. Then he himself 
 received a shot, going completely through both hips. He was 
 unhorsed, but he stood his ground, though unable to walk. He 
 was bleeding copiously. His boots filled with blood and his panta- 
 loons were saturated. As he grew weaker, he thrust his sword 
 into the ground and leaned upon it, still holding his position and 
 encouraging his men. Becoming weaker still from loss of blood, 
 and unable to stand with that support, he sank upon his knees, but 
 still kept the upright position and encouraged his men. Then he 
 fell prostrate entirely, wholly unable to keep erect. Soldiers came 
 to his aid. " No," he said. " I am too far gone. You can do nothing 
 for me. Help the others." But they lifted him on a stretcher and 
 carried him away. Scarcely had they moved him, when a shell 
 struck the ground near, buried itself and exploded, throwing upon 
 the spot where he had lain a great mass of earth, which would have 
 completely covered and killed him if he had not been moved. On 
 that stretcher he was taken to Fortress Monroe, and his severe 
 wounds dressed, but he had a slow recovery. 
 
 Philadelphia, Jan. 7, 1885. 
 L. W. Baker, Dear Sergeant : — 
 
 You will recollect we followed Gen. Chamberlain's charge on 
 the gallop up the hill. We stopped at the crest, about on a line 
 and 300 yards from the enemy's works ; we fired across an inter- 
 vening depression. As Gen. Chamberlain charged across this in 
 order to reach their line of works opposite us, they received a 
 raking fire from a masked battery in a clump of trees. Some of 
 them became demoralized and fell back ; many came in through 
 
124 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 our battery. I tried to find out from the stragglers whether any 
 infantry -remained in our front to protect us against a counter 
 charge, as the railroad cut in our rear prevented our getting away. 
 They were too frightened to reply. I called Lieut. Milton, and 
 together we stopped over ioo, made them lay clown and load up; 
 with these we held our position till dark. While engaged in stop- 
 ping the infantry, word was brought to me that Gen. Chamberlain 
 lay in our front, badly wounded. I sent word to the ambulance to 
 take the stretcher and bring him in, my informant acting as guide. 
 When they reached the General, he told the men to let him go, he 
 was too severely wounded to live, and to take some of the others 
 about him more fortunate. Our men replied (he told me), " We 
 cannot do that, sir; Capt. Bigelow's order to us was to bring you 
 back, and that is what we must do." This scene was enacted under 
 a heavy musketry fire, and a life of great subsequent usefulness 
 saved. Signed, JOHN BIGELOW. 
 
 Also, I received a letter from Sergt. J. H. Manning, of 
 which this is an extract : — 
 
 ArCtYle Park, Chicago, March 5, 1887. 
 In regard to the Petersburg fight, on the 17th of June, I believe 
 [should be the 18th], I was given charge of some extra caissons to 
 take to the rear. As soon as I got them put out of harm's way, I 
 started for the front. Meeting an infantryman with rifle and 
 amunition, who was wounded, took them, went out in front of 
 Lincoln's gun and stood up in the bushes doing a little sharpshoot- 
 ing at a gun under a tree in our front ; as soon as the cartridge box 
 was empty, I came back and found Lincoln was killed. I took his 
 place, and filled it the rest of the day. The sharpshooter that 
 hit him was in the same tree, but I could not get him. Several 
 infantrymen in the vicinity of the gun were shot with small rifle 
 balls, and the first time I sighted the gun a bullet split itself on the 
 cap square, spattering minute particles of lead in my face. 
 
 Signed, J. H. MANNING. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 125 
 
 The following letter was written by one intimate with Gun- 
 ner Lincoln, and gives much of the last day of his life. 
 
 Croyden, Ind., March 4, 1887. 
 Our night march from the pontoon bridge across the James River 
 to the newly formed position in front of Petersburg, was without 
 doubt one of the severest trials of the campaign of 1864. Weary 
 and worn out, we arrived upon the soil which was to swallow, from 
 that day (June 15th) on, so many precious lives. During the 
 night we marched side by side conversing with each other in low, 
 husky, muffled tones, as if the awful solemnity of the coming day, 
 with all its terrors, were already upon us. Levi Lincoln marched 
 alongside of me the greater portion of the night, discussing the 
 probabilities of the near future of the Army of the Potomac. The 
 first streak of daylight, instead of rest, brought unmistakable signs 
 of coming strife. Occasional picket shots proved to us the sure 
 forerunner of general action near at hand, and the lapse of another 
 hour verified our most terrible expectations. Soon the whole line 
 was enveloped in smoke. Our Battery, yet located upon the spot 
 which terminated our night march, soon received orders to change 
 position and was destined during a long midsummer forenoon to 
 move to and fro under the iron hail of an infuriated foe ; the 
 bouncing and ricocheting of solid shot literally ploughing the soil ; 
 shells bursting in mid air, and bullets by the thousand whizzing 
 around our tired and weary, yet fastly moving forms. Noon brought 
 us an hour's rest. We had moved close to the line of action 
 across the Norfolk Railroad ; the roadbed was a deep cut, crossed 
 by a wooden, rough-looking bridge. This bridge we crossed, to 
 halt immediately upon the other side. Weary and exhausted, hun- 
 gry and thirsty, I threw myself down upon the ground on the left 
 and upper side of the crossing. Our group consisted of the mem- 
 bers of the second detachment, of course, Levi Lincoln included 
 in the number. My shot pouch was slung around my right side, 
 ready for action. Weary and tired, sleep made itself visible upon 
 several faces, that of myself not excepted. Levi Lincoln, who was 
 
126 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 stretched full length alongside of me, noticing my drowsiness, said, 
 " Goodnight, George, you will soon be roused again." I dozed 
 awhile. When I waked up, my olfactory nerves were offended by a 
 most pestiferous odor near or about my person. Levi Lincoln 
 and Murphy were the first to detect the cause of my perfume 
 dilemma, on my pouch, which happened to bear the marks of a very 
 prominent constituent part of the bed whereon I rested. My 
 whole detachment joined in boisterous laughter, but, alas ! one of 
 them laughed his last — it was Levi Lincoln. 
 
 To draw the general attention away from myself and rid myself 
 of the bitterness of the joke, I passed a few remarks about the rail- 
 road alongside of which we were resting, saying, that it was " dead 
 stock." While saying this, I took my watch out of my pocket, and 
 finding it stopped, passed the additional remark, " and so is my 
 watch dead;" whereupon Levi answered, "Perhaps some of us will 
 be dead before many hours, or even minutes. " Drawing his time- 
 piece from his pocket, he said, " It is half past one o'clock." " So," 
 I said, " your watch is alive yet ; you had better will it to me in 
 case you should be numbered among those you doom to such an 
 early death by your conjectures." "You shall in such a case have 
 it," he answered. " All right," was my cheerful reply, little sus- 
 pecting that our jokes turned upon the stern pivot of truth, and 
 only a very short time was to intervene between them and their 
 verification. My last answer had hardly escaped my lips when 
 Charley Reed's clarion notes called us to action. 
 
 Our piece during that afternoon's action stood almost upon the 
 brow of a ridge. The slope to the rear caused our piece to recoil 
 considerably. Coming up the hill from the ammunition chest, I 
 saw Levi fall backwards in a continued straight line with the gun- 
 stock. Not knowing how far his injuries extended, my first fear 
 was that another discharge of our piece would cause additional 
 harm ; I therefore warned No. 4 not to fire till we had him moved 
 out of the reach of the next recoil ; but, turning around, my gaze 
 fell on the rigid form of our already departed gunner. He wore a 
 light cream colored wool hat — it was half full of blood. As men- 
 tioned above, he had fallen straight back and was lying with his 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. \2J 
 
 head down hill ; the back of his head held his hat, which had 
 slipped off his forehead, in such a position as to render it a recipient 
 of all the blood which flowed from his half-open mouth. 
 
 So ended Levi Lincoln, the gunner of Sergt. Nelson Lowell's 
 detachment. He was a perfect pattern of morality, noble impulse 
 and unflinching patriotism. A comrade full of fraternal love, he 
 never to my knowledge wronged any one and was warmly loved 
 and highly respected by all. 
 
 N. B. Levi Lincoln was interred close to the infantry breast- 
 works in our immediate rear, wrapped in his india rubber. A few 
 days afterward, we exhumed his body and buried him under a large 
 tree, side by side with Sergt. Dawes, who fell about or near the 
 same time. 
 
 GEO. H. MADER. 
 
 After Sergt. Dawes died, we brought him and Gunner 
 Lincoln to near our camp and buried them under a large 
 tree. Each of their graves was marked by a board with their 
 full name on it; also a fence was built around their resting 
 place. Their bodies were afterwards taken to Massachusetts. 
 
 After dark we go back about two miles, where we make 
 camp, groom, feed, supper, sleep. 
 
 June 19, in the morning, we go to the same place of our 
 fight the night before; find a good breastwork well filled 
 with infantry; we use about twelve rounds during the day. 
 We have to keep low as the minies are humming all the time. 
 We also dig a place for our horses and limbers, as the distance 
 was such that balls coming just over the breastworks skimmed 
 the ground down the hill, and men were killed lying down 
 ten yards back of the works. 
 
 Again we go to the rear for the night, and June 20, about 
 9 of a foggy morning, we go up to our old place in the breast- 
 
125 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 works and quietly remain until about 6 o'clock. A heavy- 
 gun in the enemy's works, 600 yards distant, protected by a 
 heavy earthwork, opened, and the shot went over and a mile 
 to our rear, near where some trains were passing. We all 
 sprang from the ground, and the order came, " Load with 
 solid shot; don't fire without orders." The chief of the right 
 gun had been watching this earthwork for two clays, and 
 wanted to try it ; the embrasure seemed to be six feet deep. 
 He went to Lieut. Milton and asked permission to shell it. 
 He was referred to the Captain, who gave him permission. 
 A couple of solid shot proved the distance correct, and 
 as shell followed shell, the enemy only replied with mus- 
 ketry, which was answered by the regiments with Sharpe's 
 rifles. The twelfth shell finished the embrasure, and it is said 
 dismounted the gun. As shell after shell burst in the embras- 
 ure, the infantry cheered and enjoyed it as much as we did. 
 
 As this was the first time we had had a chance for nice 
 work, we improved it. The gun detachment was compli- 
 mented by both captain and 
 lieutenant, and some of the 
 infantry officers said it was 
 the best firing they ever saw. 
 We returned to camp 
 after dark, where we remain 
 two days — welcome days, 
 as our mail comes now quite 
 regularly. We improve all 
 our leisure in answering 
 our letters, cleaning up, 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 
 
 129 
 
 washing and mending. We have to keep in readiness to 
 move at a moment's notice. As an example : the 22d we 
 were in a state of alarm ; sharp skirmishing all night. 
 About dark there was a heavy charge, and another at 11. 
 We harnessed at 6 P.M., unharnessed at 8, harnessed again 
 at 11, unharnessed at 1 A.M. 
 
 While we were here, one of our artists made a picture of 
 the tree and spot where Sergt. Dawes and Gunner Lincoln 
 were buried. It was afterwards photographed and many 
 copies are preserved. 
 
I30 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 June 24, we haul out and take our line of march to the 
 left. At 6 A.M. we cross the Norfolk Railroad, 
 and soon come to the ground where the 2d Corps 
 were engaged the 23d and lost a battery, also many prisoners. 
 About 8 P.M. we go into a battery, and relieve the 6th 
 Maine. Our horses were sent to the rear; our guns, with 
 two extra chests of ammunition, were left in the battery. 
 
 In the morning we see where we are. The battery covers 
 500 yards of the Jerusalem plank road, a large range of 
 picket lines, and one half mile of heavy earthworks, well 
 armed. It was said that sixteen guns fired on this battery 
 two days before. Five hundred yards in our front, and on 
 the right of the plank road, was the celebrated " Fort Sedg- 
 wick," better known at that time as " Fort Hell." Our 
 works were not very strong, but we strengthened them by 
 night until they were seven feet high and strong in propor- 
 tion. 
 
 The picket firing was pretty sharp for two days, then a 
 truce was made between the pickets, who were in speaking 
 distance in some places. They exchanged papers, traded 
 tobacco for coffee. Said Johnny to Bucktail, " Let's go over 
 to Petersburg on a time today." Said Bucktail to Johnny, 
 "Wait a few days; then I'll go." 
 
 July 8. There was considerable shelling across our front, 
 
 and occasionally a few would come over our way. 
 
 ' One burst, striking Adolphus Schermer in the 
 
 breast, making a severe wound. Also the pickets engaged 
 
 in a little brush, just to keep their hand in, but we were not 
 
 troubled further. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 131 
 
 The evening of the 11th, the Pennsylvania Bucktails were 
 relieved, and for two hours halted near our Battery. A ser- 
 geant came over to my tent, and kept me awake two hours 
 telling" stories of the picket line. Among others, said a negro 
 picket to a Johnny, " 1 commence in de morning and fight 
 you well till noon ; den after dinner I fight you right smart 
 till night ; den, if I don't whip ye, I commence in de morn- 
 ing and fight ye hard all day ; and ye had better bring y'r 
 grub along with y'r." 
 
 July 13. Wednesday evening we move from our battery 
 to a fort in our rear, about 300 feet square, called 
 
 FORT DAVIS, 
 
 after Col. Davis of the 39th Mass., who was killed a few days 
 ago on our left. The parapet is at least twelve feet high, 
 and broad in proportion, all of earth taken from the moat. 
 Our guns are pointing south, on platforms eight feet high, 
 but too small and soft to work well. A few trees are stand- 
 ing in the fort, and poles and brush are brought in, and we 
 make an arbor that makes our tents more comfortable during 
 the day; the days are hot, the mornings cool; we have to 
 draw up our blankets around us and shiver. 
 
 Capt. Bigelow has gone to the rear, is sick ; we hear 
 Lieut. Prescott is sick ; also that Lieut. Reed is trying to get 
 discharged; only Lieuts. Milton and Foster are at the front 
 now. We are having an easy time : drill one hour easily, 
 guard six hours in four days ; also we are getting some vege- 
 tables, which we sadly need. 
 
132 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Sunday, 17th. A chaplain held service in the fort; about 
 fifty were present. The surroundings were peculiar, as a bat- 
 tery was firing off to our right, and the shrieking and burst- 
 ing of shells are not parts of regular church service. 
 
 The enemy lets us know every few days where they are by 
 throwing a few shell over us, but we have had no casual- 
 ties, since we have been here. Our caisson camp is one and 
 one half miles to the rear, but since we have had vegetables 
 soup is made at camp and brought to the fort. Our water 
 was not good, but a well has been dug in the fort, so we are 
 better off now ; also at camp of caissons, we dug a well 
 about twenty-four feet deep. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. I 33 
 
 Many of our men at the front are not well and are under 
 the doctor's care, but choose to remain at the front and do 
 the light duty, rather than to go to the rear or hospital. 
 
 July 19. From the 5th of June to the 19th of July we have 
 not had rain enough to lay the dust ; now a boun- 
 
 Julv 1 9. . 
 
 tiful rain is falling Our record also says, Gen. 
 Warren is here every day ; is not satisfied with the progress 
 of fortifying. Col. Lyle is in command here, and no regular 
 engineer in charge. Our duties are light, just enough to 
 keep us ready for any emergency. Sutlers are estab- 
 lishing themselves about here, which is a good sign that the 
 paymaster has left Washington for the army. As an example 
 of prices we have to pay for the extras we sometimes buy, 
 the following is a partial list at this time and place : Flour, 
 .06 per lb. ; potatoes, .jo ; onions, .06 ; cheese, .50; butter, 
 .75 ; tea, $2.40; shoe blacking, small size, .15. 
 
 July 29. The work of fortifying is done, and now the care 
 of our quarters is impressed on us by the following order : — 
 
 Headquarters ist Brigade, 3D Division, 5TH Army Corps. 
 
 July 29, 1864. 
 General Orders. No. 17. 
 
 The following police and sanitary regulations for the command 
 will be strictly carried out and regimental commanders will be held 
 responsible for their thorough observance by the men. 
 
 Each regimental camp will be thoroughly policed every morning 
 between the hours of five (5 ) and six (6) o'clock, under the per- 
 sonal supervision of a commissioned officer appointed for that pur- 
 pose by the regimental commander. 
 
 The ground will be swept clean and all offal, garbage and dirt 
 collected and carried outside of the fort and deposited in sink holes 
 dug for that purpose by each regiment. 
 
134 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The sink holes will be at least one hundred ( ioo) yards from 
 the fort, and will be from six (6) to eight (8) feet deep, four (4) 
 feet wide and six (6) feet long. 
 
 Every regiment will be furnished with boxes and barrels for each 
 company, to hold dirt, slops, garbage, urine, etc. 
 
 No refuse matter whatever will be thrown on the ground, but 
 will be placed in the boxes and barrels, which will be emptied into 
 the sink holes twice daily, viz. : between the hours of five ( 5 ) and 
 six (6) o'clock in the morning, and six (6) and seven ( 7 ) in the 
 evening. 
 
 No officer or man will be allowed to urinate within the walls of 
 the fort in the daytime. At night urinals may be used. 
 
 Each regiment will have sinks dug at not less than one hundred 
 (100) yards from the fort. These sinks will be at -least twenty 
 (20) feet in length, and will be properly fitted up and screened. 
 A thin layer of dirt will be thrown into the sinks and sink holes 
 every morning, until they are filled, when new ones will be dug. 
 
 A sink for the exclusive use of officers of the brigade will be 
 also furnished. 
 
 The colonel commanding the brigade, knowing that all officers 
 and men must see the necessity of a strict observance of the above 
 regulations in the present crowded state of the command, expects 
 prompt and cheerful compliance with all measures he may adopt 
 to promote comfort, cleanliness, and prevent disease. 
 
 This order will be read to each company in the command. 
 By command of Col. Peter Lyle, commanding brigade, 
 
 BYRON PORTER, 
 
 Capt. 6- A. A. G. 
 
 We do not see that much progress is being made in our 
 work, yet we feel that some movement is coming soon. 
 
 July 30, at 2.30 A.M., we were called, and ordered to man 
 our guns immediately; no fires were to be made. In ten 
 minutes we were ready and officers and men waited for orders. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 1 35 
 
 About 4 30 A.M. a low, muffled rumbling, or dull explosion, 
 was heard and felt that shook the ground. Immediately a 
 hundred guns opened with a crash, and for two hours the 
 roar was incessant. The enemy in front of us opened in a 
 few minutes, and threw their shot far off to our right; we 
 were not troubled. The fire gradually slackened, till about 
 9 A.M., when it ceased, except a short artillery duel occa- 
 sionally. Thus ended with us the famous mine explosion, 
 The fort blown up was about 1,000 yards from our position, 
 June 18, 19 and 20. Many of us visited the lines next day. 
 August 6, we were paid off, and money is plenty in camp 
 
 now ; some lost at the gaming table, some fooled 
 All£. 6. 
 
 away, debts paid, and many articles of comfort 
 
 bought, and a lit.tle store kept for emergencies. A little 
 money is handy to have, but a large amount is too trouble- 
 some ; borrowers are too plenty. A few will drink too much, 
 and a few will gamble, and some have got a taste for it since 
 enlisting; but most want each man to have the full benefit 
 of what money he earns as wages. Sunday evening, August 
 7, the acting orderly sergeant saw too many signs of gam- 
 bling, and laid plans for a raid. When the lookouts were 
 all quiet, and the streets of the camp were dark, he* found it 
 in full blast; and in sixty seconds had Lieut. Milton looking 
 down on the board and ordering them to pass him that 
 money and those cards, which was done ; and he put them in 
 his pockets with six dollars. Well, there were some strong 
 words muttered, and that sergeant was remembered in them 
 the remainder of that night, but sunrise and duties of the 
 next day ended the matter. The money was spent for sani- 
 
I36 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 tary rations and distributed among all the men at the fort. 
 Some would not take anything bought with that money. 
 The next time rations were drawn, extra sugar was bought 
 with some of the money ; they all took their share and 
 thought somebody had made a mistake. 
 
 August 11. Capt. Bigelow has gone home on sick leave. 
 Last night there was considerable firing, and some over us ; 
 one shell struck the fort below the parapet, but did no dam- 
 age. The provoking cause is a working party who are 
 building a heavy battery on the right of the road in front of 
 us, near where the picket line crosses the road. The enemy 
 fear it will trouble them by and by, so they annoy them all 
 they can. 
 
 August 14. The chaplains of the various regiments hold 
 religious services every Sabbath near here ; sometimes in the 
 fort. Quite a number of our men attend. 
 
 Most of our work is fatigue duty. Nothing that may 
 make the place unhealthy is left here. Night and morning 
 we police our camp thoroughly, and all is carried out of the 
 fort. We fear heavy showers, as many places have been 
 filled with sand — that is, quicksand — when it rains. 
 
 August 15. Last night we had a heavy shower. The fort 
 was flooded ; the ground was covered one or two inches deep, 
 and we lost many of our comforts, and some of our neces- 
 saries of life, but we kept dry, as we had our bunks raised 
 from the ground. At 10 P.M. we received orders to leave 
 the fort, quite unexpected to us. There had been mistakes 
 made in building the fort, and many of us got in the ditches, 
 which were filled with quicksand; some men could not get 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. I 37 
 
 out alone. At 2 A.M. the Battery came to relieve us, and 
 we hauled out. We had hard work ; horses and guns got 
 into the ditches, and had to be doubled up to get out, but 
 about 3, we were in the camp of the caissons. 
 
 CAMP WELL IN THE WOODS. 
 
 It is a relief to be at the rear ; we can rest some if we have 
 to work more. We are again busy cleaning, repairing, 
 getting ready for — what next? 
 
 Tuesday, we had a shower which made our camp one sheet 
 of water; again, August 17, Wednesday, a heavy shower. 
 About midnight a cannonade opened and extended the whole 
 length of the line. The roar was incessant, the bursting of 
 shells sharp above the roar ; for one hour it was kept up, 
 then died away. 
 
 At 3 A.M., August 18, we were ordered out, at 5.30 broke 
 camp, and at 7 joined the 5th Corps, a mile in our rear, and 
 turned toward the left, on the plank road ; about three miles 
 again toward the west, by Dr. Guthrie's house, to Yellow 
 Tavern, a station on the 
 
 WELDON RAILROAD. 
 
 We had heard skirmishing for half an hour. Now we hear 
 the crack of the three-inch rifles, followed by the heavier 
 boom of the brass Napoleons of the 3d Mass. About 2 P.M. 
 we were ordered in position on the east side of the railroad, 
 about 150 yards from it. As we advanced, a sharp shower 
 9 
 
138 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 came over and made the ground soft. One of the 3d Mass. 
 cannoneers was carried by us, with his arm shattered by- 
 premature explosion of his piece. It did not seem pleasant, 
 
 but it made us more careful. We went in battery in a corn- 
 field, and threw twelve solid shot towards the enemy. It 
 was so soft we could not direct our fire, and we were ordered 
 forward ; went through the field and went in battery on a 
 plain 600 yards from the woods in front, occupied by the 
 enemy's skirmishers. 
 
 There were five or six batteries in line with us ; we shelled 
 the enemy's position at the Allen house behind the woods ; 
 we could only see the smoke of their firing. We shelled 
 them till they stopped, then took our spades and threw up a 
 lunette for our guns ; also we got planks from a tobacco house 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 
 
 139 
 
 in our rear and made platforms for our guns, and at 9 P.M. 
 turned into our rubber blankets. Our casualty was one man 
 slightly wounded, Cornelius F. Sexton. The rain continued 
 through the night and part of the next day. 
 
 August 19 dawned and we were early astir, and found a 
 good breastwork in front of us. We got what 
 
 August 19. 
 
 lumber we wanted, and made our platforms large 
 and comfortable. About 3 P.M. skirmishing began. We 
 shelled the woods far to our right to dislodge the skirmishers 
 of the enemy, but we did not effect much as our skirmishers 
 were forced to retire. Also the line in front of us broke or 
 were flanked and retired. Soon we saw a column of the 
 enemy marching by the flank toward the rear of the brigade 
 
140 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 on our right. Gen. Griffin, a little ways in our rear, first saw 
 them, and rode up, saying : " See those Rebs ? Fire on 
 them, — shell, case, solid shot, anything; ricochet them in, 
 give it to them ! " And we did, as fast as we could load. 
 There was probably a brigade, as they carried two flags ; soon 
 not one was to be seen. Some of the ist Brigade, 3d Div., 
 5th Corps were captured, some of the 39th Mass. and 16th 
 Maine. So ended the second day. 
 
 We have been so busy that we do not know our neighbors, 
 but when we visit them we find the situation as follows : We 
 are nearly at the right of the 5 th Corps, our right gun is at 
 the right of the front line of works ; the 16th Maine Regiment 
 continues the line towards the rear, and about 400 yards to the 
 rear the 9th Corps joins our right. On our left, the 5th New 
 York Regiment carries the line towards the rear about 100 
 yards to Battery D, 5th U. S. ; then another regiment con- 
 tinues the line towards the front, where are Batteries B and 
 H, ist New York, on a line with us pointing north toward 
 Petersburg ; and then the line turns south, with Capt. Hart's 
 15th Independent New York Battery, and one other facing 
 west. The railroad was about the centre of these works 
 between Batteries D, 5th U. S., and B, ist New York. The 
 irregular shape of the works was because of the depressions 
 of the ground. 
 
 August 21, Sunday morning. A quiet day was yesterday; 
 fair weather again. We are anticipating a quiet day, and 
 many are preparing to write letters, as it has been so wet we 
 could not do so. About 8 A.M., there was some commotion 
 on our left. We jumped on our breastworks and saw a line 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 14I 
 
 of battle advancing. The enemy were met by a heavy fire 
 from two batteries facing the left, or west ; they soon broke 
 and we saw two battleflags moving to the woods. Then a 
 line of batteries opened in their rear, and for an hour we were 
 under the heaviest enfilading fire we ever experienced ; but 
 most fortunately but few shell burst. A large number buried 
 in the ground between our limber and guns ; one struck im- 
 mediately under Lieut. Milton and buried in the soft wet 
 ground ; he passed on, saying, " a miss is as good as a mile." 
 One shell passed through the tarpaulin of the first gun on 
 the left ; cutting a sleeve out of an overcoat near the next 
 gun ; cutting the prolonge off the next gun ; yet no one was 
 hit, and no other damage was done. Considerable talk was 
 made because the enemy fired railroad iron at us. A piece 
 was picked up near our front, but it proved to be a piece 
 broken out of a rail by a cannon ball striking it sidewise. 
 Very soon after, the enemy made another attack still further 
 to our left, but were repulsed with considerable loss. 
 
 About 10, we were again startled by their appearing in 
 our immediate front ; coming out, forming line of battle for a 
 charge, and lying down while the second line was forming. 
 Gen. Griffin, of the ist Division, was near; being a regular 
 artillery officer, said, " Give them case shot; ricochet them 
 right in!" Our canister were brought up and laid beside 
 the guns, and soon we had case shot skipping along to their 
 lines. They were cut so as to burst in front of them, and 
 eighty-four rounds was all they could stand. Batteries B and 
 H, New York, had an oblique fire on them, but Battery D, 
 ist U. S., could not see them. 
 
142 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The lines of battle never advanced, but threw out skir- 
 mishers about 300 yards, with orders to pick off the 
 gunners of that battery (ours). The fire was so severe 
 that the line broke ; the skirmishers were covered by 
 a ditch, and could not retire nor show themselves. Some 
 of them came in as prisoners and told us of their 
 orders. 
 
 When the enemy's line appeared, most of our guns had no 
 case shot, but orders had gone to the caissons for fresh 
 limbers, and in the excitement some of the guns fired 
 canister. Some of the officers in the 5th New York Regi- 
 ment were worried because the left gun did not fire. 
 They were told, " We shall not waste our canister now ; 
 they will not go half way there, and we shall want them 
 by and by; a solid shot will do no more good than a 
 musket ball, and will embolden them more." Just then 
 the limber came up, and the case shot were cut one 
 second time. 
 
 Later in the day, the 9th Corps were engaged, and a 
 brigade, in which were the 57th and 59th Mass. Regiments, 
 suffered severely and lost some prisoners. 
 
 For some time we have been troubled with diarrhoea, and 
 some cases of chills. It was reported among us that the 
 enemy had got us now where they wanted us, and that soon 
 malaria would carry us off faster than the fighting had done. 
 Our water was bad, but soon we had wells that gave us good 
 water, and quinine and whisky was served pretty regularly 
 through August and September, and some of us were served 
 with quinine pills. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. I43 
 
 September 2. We have been quietly lying in battery in 
 
 the same place; our caissons came up, and we 
 
 S6Dt 2 
 v ' ' were all together. At midnight we were ordered 
 
 to be ready to march. At 2 A.M. we hauled out, went 
 
 across the railroad and down the pike towards Reams Station. 
 
 The 3d Division, 5th Corps, filed in before us, the cavalry 
 
 being in the advance, and made a reconnoissance toward the 
 
 west, through forests which were supposed to cover the 
 
 enemy. Scarcely a shot was heard all the morning. About 
 
 two miles below, the infantry massed in an opening on the 
 
 right of the road, and the cavalry advanced into a piece of 
 
 woods, but found no enemy. We returned to near the left 
 
 of the front line, and another reconnoisance was made, but 
 
 no enemy found. 
 
 Those who were mounted saw a beautiful sight at sunrise. 
 A low-lying fog covered the ground ; as we passed over a rise, 
 a camp of our own came in sight, and we saw it over the fog. 
 It seemed to be a great way off, and the tents looked as 
 large as houses, and some standing chimneys twenty feet 
 high seemed to be one hundred feet. We were all puzzled at 
 first about it. 
 
 About 7 o'clock, we had orders to go back to camp, but we 
 did not go in battery there; we remained in park. About 2 
 P.M., orders came to break camp, and we took our line of 
 march south, by Yellow Tavern, one mile to a new, square- 
 bastioned fort, which commanded the southwest angle of our 
 lines. 
 
 We find the fort about one half done ; one bastion only 
 was finished. We placed our guns in the best positions in 
 
144 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the fort, the right gun in the salient of the bastion, command- 
 ing from northwest to southwest, and the second in the other 
 angle to the southwest. The sand was so soft that we could 
 not work our guns. The next morning, Lieut. Milton saw 
 the difficulty, and, at the suggestion of one of his sergeants, 
 ordered a floor of poles to be laid. The first detachment 
 commenced the platform for the gun, and before it was done, 
 Gen. Warren came around, and seeing our work, asked the 
 sergeant if the platform was large enough, who said the gun 
 would recoil off of it. He then ordered the engineers to 
 make it larger. Hardly a day passed without his visiting the 
 fort. It was a fine, strong work, but they were slow about it. 
 The General found fault with the engineers because they 
 were so slow. Said he, one day, "You don't know how soon 
 you will have to drop the spade and take your guns ; we may 
 be attacked any moment, and here you sit around and do as 
 little as you can. I don't believe a man will stand up and 
 fight that will not work at a time like this." At another 
 time, he was passing near, when one of our men was told to 
 relieve another ; he said he had been at work all the morn- 
 ing. Gen. Warren said, " Before the war a man had to work 
 ten hours a day." 
 
 The fort seemed to be a rendezvous for officers ; Gen. 
 Grant was there several times. At one time I saw Gen. 
 Grant and his father; another, Gen. Grant and Gen. Wallace 
 met Gen. Warren on the parapet for half an hour. 
 
 In the current news of the day, we frequently see some- 
 thing to connect us with something we saw a quarter of a 
 century ago. The Cincinnati Commercial Gazette of January 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. I45 
 
 20, 1885, has the following interview with Gen. Wallace, in 
 which he says: "In July, 1864, after I was restored to the 
 command of the Department of Maryland, by telegraph from 
 Gen. Grant, I received by mail a private note from him, 
 inviting me, when my department was clear of Rebels, to visit 
 him at City Point for a couple of weeks, bringing my horse; 
 which I did, spending two weeks there as his guest." 
 
 Sunday, the 25th of September, at about 3.30, Gens. 
 Grant, Mead, Humphreys, Warren, Senator Washburn of 
 Illinois, and Secretary Seward, came to the fort and appeared 
 to be in consultation for an half hour. 
 
 September 28. There was a flag raising in the fort, called 
 
 FORT DUCHESNE; 
 
 named after a colonel of a New Jersey regiment killed near 
 here. We have a fine magazine here, bomb proof ; first, 
 logs, then railroad iron, then earth and logs outside. 
 
 In the afternoon we signed the pay rolls for two months. 
 At night had orders to be ready to march at 4 A.M. ; at mid- 
 night, were called to be paid; at 3 A.M., called to breakfast 
 of baked beans ; 4.30, horses came to fort ; at 6.30, Gregg's 
 cavalry began to file past down the Halifax road ; about one 
 half mile below, formed en masse, part going towards Reams 
 Station, and were engaged till after dark. The enemy used 
 artillery and blew up one caisson. We unharnessed at 7 
 P.M. ; quiet all night. We now feel uneasy, not knowing 
 whether we are going to stay here or go ; we only stay here ; 
 our home is broken up. 
 
I46 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 October 5. About 4 P.M., we had orders to pack up, and 
 in forty minutes we were hauling out and went 
 
 Oct. 5. ., u . u 
 
 about two miles to the right to 
 
 FORT HOWARD, 
 
 relieving the nth Mass. Battery, which is to join its corps, 
 the 9th, which has gone to Poplar Grove Church. We much 
 prefer going into new works and camps, as they are much 
 cleaner. This was much better than the average, but we 
 were glad to get out. 
 
 We have been living pretty well, and as the weather grows 
 cooler we' can thrive on our rations. Our health is better, 
 and we do our work easier ; the water does not hurt us so 
 much ; malaria has disappeared, and only a few men are in the 
 hospital now. By reference to data, we find that at this time 
 we had to pay five cents for small apples ; twelve cents per 
 pound for potatoes ; onions, fifteen cents ; cheese, fifty to 
 sixty cents; butter, eighty cents, etc. 
 
 October 15. Five recruits came; one of them was dis- 
 charged from the Battery for disability in the spring of '63. 
 
 October 19. An old man was discharged. He was too 
 enfeebled to do our duty, and the commanding officer sent for 
 the surgeon to examine him. Surgeon came ; old man was 
 sent for ; appeared, hat in hand, white head uncovered ; 
 officer said he was of no use as he could not do duty. " How 
 old are you ? " — " Sixty-two."— " How old did you enlist 
 for?"— -Forty-three." 
 
 October 22. The Battery was reorganized today ; six de- 
 tachments ; expect to have two more guns. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 147 
 
 There are lookouts all along the lines from the James River 
 to this place. There is one in front of this fort, a large, high 
 pine tree ; rough ladders are made on it, and we go up sixty 
 or seventy feet; can see the enemy's works from it. We 
 sometimes go out there and look around ; can see move- 
 ments quite a distance, and the picket lines for a mile or 
 more. 
 
 October 25. Orders were received about 2 P.M., to haul 
 out and go to camp of caissons. In the morning, orders 
 came to put everything in marching order to move the 
 next night. At 9 P.M., we were ordered to be ready to 
 move at 5 A.M. At daylight we started; went to the yellow 
 house, where we joined the 3d Brigade, 1st Division, 5th 
 Corps, and moved toward the South Side Railroad by Fort 
 Cummings, occupied by the 11th Mass. Battery. We were 
 in the woods all the way ; only small clearings, not a half 
 mile across. 
 
 We halted at Armstrong's plantation, near the mill on 
 
 HATCHER'S RUN. 
 
 We went to the bank of the run, and built a bridge and cause- 
 way, but did not cross, but covered the 3d Division, 5th 
 Corps. The 2d Corps recrossed during the night and morn- 
 ing after their disaster. We went in battery and covered the 
 crossing, and retired by sections for about a mile, until we 
 gained the cover of the woods. A short distance beyond the 
 run was said to be a gallows, on which a Union man was 
 hung with a grape vine. 
 
I48 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Mr. Armstrong, a typical resident of the country, outside 
 the lines, was a man over sixty ; too old and feeble to be of 
 use in the army, but whose sons were there. He said he 
 bought a barrel of flour in Petersburg a few days before, pay- 
 ing $400 for it in Confederate money. 
 
 Just before we gained the cover of the woods, the enemy 
 came out in a skirmish line to the other side of the run, and 
 shouted, yelled ; tried to frighten somebody. 
 
 We followed the 3d Division home, going in camp about 
 2 o'clock. The Battery wagon, forge and baggage wagons, 
 with the men of the two other detachments which had been 
 sent to City Point, soon rejoined us. 
 
 ISLAND CAMP. 
 
 Our officers chose a knoll, almost surrounded by a run, 
 for our camp. It contained about two acres and was one of 
 the best sites we ever camped on. 
 
 November 5. We received two guns today. Only Lieuts. 
 Milton and Foster are with the Battery ; do not 
 
 Nov. 5. 
 
 hear from the other two lieutenants, whether they 
 are coming back or not. 
 
 November 6, Sunday. We had a mounted inspection 
 today; two of the sergeants are acting chiefs of sections. 
 
 The following letter was written by one of the sergeants 
 at this date : 
 
 I was on guard last night : the air was heavy and cold ; the 
 moon was in its second quarter and bright ; not a breath of air was 
 stirring; the monotonous sound of the clank of the guard's sabre 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. I49 
 
 was distinct ; the crack of the picket guns was dull but continuous ; 
 withal it was a night for sitting close to the campfire and keeping 
 wide awake. About 1 1 o'clock, one half hour before the moon dis- 
 appeared, I heard a drum beat far to the right. In about one half 
 hour, suddenly a dull crackling roar commenced, a sound that the 
 soldier well knows means work. 
 
 It was a charge on one side or the other, and in about five min- 
 utes the artillery opened, and for more than two hours each half 
 minute was broken by the booming of cannon and mortar, and the 
 bursting of shell, and frequently by a volley so rapid that they could 
 not be counted. In addition to this, the echo was so perfect that 
 it seemed as if the whole heavens were full of thunder, as I never 
 heard before the rattle and roar so incessant. All this was under- 
 laid by the rattle of musketry, and so continued the remainder of 
 the night. The cause I do not know, but the next day about 1 
 P.M., about 100 prisoners went by. 
 
 November 8, was election day, and was observed here. An 
 informal vote for President was taken ; result, Abraham 
 Lincoln, 98 ; Gen. McClellan, 22 ; S. A. Douglas, 1 ; total, 
 121. The election passed off quietly. It has rained some 
 for a week past, but our camp is excellent. 
 
 November 13. We are drilling all the pleasant weather, 
 and we find it necessary to do so to keep our old men in 
 working" order, besides the recruits that have come. We 
 commenced stables, but we do not know whether we shall use 
 them or not. We have to build a wind-break 250 feet long of 
 pine boughs. 
 
 November 15. We have thirty men in the woods cutting 
 
 timber for stockades. We are in a fine growth of 
 
 Nov 15 
 
 long leaved pine, which we are cutting up eight 
 
 feet long and splitting in planks ; we are at work with a will, 
 
I50 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 as we have some cold days and we wish to get housed before 
 Thanksgiving. Many are making preparations for it ; boxes 
 are coming from Massachusetts with goods for a Thanksgiv- 
 ing dinner. 
 
 November 16. We have our monthly inspection today, 
 and it was a terror to some of us. Lieut. Dresser of the 
 regular army was " up and dressed," with some commissary 
 inside, but it was the best inspection we ever had. The bat- 
 tery drill was " with a rush," and some of the boys were 
 thrown off ; one order could not be executed before the bugler 
 was giving another. He kept us on the trot or gallop for 
 thirty minutes. We were making a countermarch in line; 
 one of the caissons got tangled, and some traces unhitched, 
 and was about 150 yards behind. As he turned to give 
 another order, still on the trot, he saw it and started for it 
 with the query : " What in hell are you doing away there ? " 
 and he was there before he was through with the remark. 
 But he was not done with us ; he gave us some lessons in 
 harnessing and unharnessing and hanging up, that we never 
 had before. 
 
 November 26. We have Thanksgiving today, Saturday. 
 We have an abundant supply of turkey, potatoes, pies, bread, 
 doughnuts, apples, etc. Most of it was a special donation to 
 the 9th Battery from West Roxbury ; it lasted two or three 
 days. 
 
 We have considerable rain, and rumor says it has prevented 
 another movement. The rank and file do not know much of 
 plans till they are executed, but Dame Rumor knows every- 
 thing. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. I 5 I 
 
 There was some growling at our large fatigue parties, but 
 before winter we were glad of it. Our camp was laid out and 
 built before the 30th of November. Our huts, or houses, 
 were the best we have had, and thanks to our officers, who 
 planned and had them built 
 
 On the north side of our park were the officers' quarters ; 
 next south, two rows of houses, eighteen in each row, facing 
 each other, running east and west. Each house was ten feet 
 by six feet six inches inside, five feet six inches high, built in 
 pairs, with chimney between, and fireplace in each in the cen- 
 tre of the sides, two tiers of bunks across the back, and a door 
 in the front end, made of cracker boxes, and each house cov- 
 ered with four shelter tents. Our planks were about three 
 inches thick, set on end in a trench, well fitted together so as 
 to need no calking with mud. Most of the tents had a table, 
 and were supplied with stools, boxes, blocks, according to the 
 fancy of the occupants. At the east end of the street, were the 
 guard tents ; at the west, the guns were parked. South of 
 the quarters of the men was the stable, and west, the quarter- 
 master and commissary tents, and artificers, teamsters, etc. 
 I am thus particular about our quarters, because of the 
 contrast with our quarters of the first winter, and its conse- 
 quent effect on us. 
 
 December 4. The following is recorded at that date : 
 "I hear that the Battery stands at the head of the 
 batteries of the Corps, in health, general appear- 
 ance, and efficiency, and I know that the Battery has im- 
 proved 100 per cent, since we left Fort Warren, August 15, 
 in general appearance and health. As for efficiency, we have 
 
152 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 done all we have been asked to do in any place we have been 
 put, and are always ready for service. I have heard many 
 times that we were thought much of at headquarters, and 
 if Gen. Crawford needs a battery for anything the 9th 
 Massachusetts is ordered out. We are full of men now, and 
 recruits are refused because we are full. Men are coming 
 back from the hospitals every week." 
 
 December 6. Again we are under marching orders, and 
 the camp is full of rumors : That the 3d Division is going to 
 Washington as the nucleus of a new corps ; that we are going 
 south ; that we are going to the left ; that we are going to the 
 rear as a reserve, and it does not make much difference to 
 us where we go. One thing is certain, some movement is 
 going on, as the 5th Corps is going to the rear, being 
 relieved by the 6th Corps. At night our orders were to 
 march at 6 A.M. ; four guns, six caissons, forge and two 
 baggage wagons. Our two guns remaining relieve two of 
 the 5th Massachusetts in a fort. 
 
 December 7. Daylight. Orders received to report to 
 Gen. Ayers, 2d Division, 5th Corps. On joining his division, 
 we found the 5th Corps, one division of the 2d Corps, four 
 batteries of four guns each, the 2d Division of cavalry, with 
 two or three batteries moving southeast. We were with this 
 division during the entire expedition. We struck the 
 Jerusalem plank road one and one half miles below our lower 
 line of works, three miles east of the Weldon Railroad, and 
 followed it for about fifteen miles ; turned to the right about 
 4 P.M., and camped in a cornfield not harvested. We fed 
 our horses from the field, but got no water fit for man or 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 1 53 
 
 beast ; the best was from a swamp near by. During the day 
 it rained, but at night cleared off. We had plenty of rails, 
 and there was no lack for fires. 
 
 December 8. At 2 A.M., we fed, got coffee, and at 4 
 covered the mile and a quarter to the 
 
 NOTTOWAY RIVER; 
 
 crossed on a pontoon bridge. It was so dark we had to trust 
 our horses more than ourselves, but we crossed safely, and 
 went up a steep bank, covered with trees, to a field, where 
 we halted till the whole army was across. We made about 
 three miles before sunrise ; soon we turned south. There 
 were in the corps many men who were recruits and conva- 
 lescents, and their light marching order was too heavy, and 
 here, as they halted to get breakfast, they lightened their 
 load ; but I don't think one of our men threw away anything, 
 but some brought home more blankets than they started 
 with. 
 
 The 3d Division had the advance, and at Chambers' 
 plantation, struck the railroad. They were met by the 
 enemy's cavalry, and charged, routed them, took and 
 destroyed the railroad bridge across the Nottoway, and also 
 the railroad. The rear of the column struck the railroad 
 about four miles below. 
 
 About sunset it grew cold and began to freeze. We had 
 got considerable forage, pigs, turkeys, chickens, sorghum 
 syrup, and apple-jack; we had plenty to eat that night, but 
 slept cold. 
 
 10 
 
154 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 December 9. This was an easy day with us ; while the 
 infantry were tearing up the railroad, we slowly marched 
 along with them, making about ten miles that day. We got 
 one or two small cattle, so at night we were supplied with 
 beef. About 3 P.M. we halted on the bank of a small 
 creek, an effluent of the Meherrin River. Here the cavalry 
 met more opposition ; a body of the enemy with one gun 
 disputed their progress, but were finally driven in. There 
 the country was swampy. One division crossed the creek, 
 and made a demonstration toward Bellfield and Hicksford ; 
 found a chain of forts covering the river, armed with 
 eighteen guns, and this side several miles of swamp. 
 Gen. Warren's mission was completed, and the road was 
 so thoroughly destroyed that here he halted and prepared to 
 return. 
 
 From a house near by a lieutenant of cavalry was shot, 
 and the fine buildings were soon in flames, and 1,000 bushels 
 of corn were carried off or burned, and a large pile of new 
 rails kept us comfortable until morning. As a storm was 
 coming on, we pitched tarpaulins to the windward of the fire 
 and slept warm. 
 
 In the small hours of the morning, cavalry officers gath- 
 ered about the fires, having been on picket all night. The 
 night was severe, rainy and cold ; the rain froze as fast as it 
 fell ; in the morning the horses were all blanketed with ice, 
 everything covered. Soon after daylight we were ready to 
 move, and it was very uncomfortable for the first few hours. 
 The cavalry covered us as we marched toward Sussex Court 
 House. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. . 1 55 
 
 It was said that we found many men murdered who 
 had left the column for foraging or straggling. At Sussex 
 Court House it was said a safeguard was left and found 
 murdered. I saw many buildings on fire, and it was said 
 that we burnt everything we came to. One thing is cer- 
 tain, the burning was approved by the commanders, and 
 there was some cause for it ; probably murders were the 
 cause of it. We believed it at the time. We camped near 
 corps headquarters about three miles from Sussex Court 
 House, and passed a very comfortable night ; got quite a lot 
 of rice. During the day there was some skirmishing in 
 our rear, and the light guns of the horse artillery were 
 in action, but there was no serious hindrance to our 
 march. 
 
 At 8 A.M., December 11, we resumed our march, and at 
 9.30 passed the Court House, and at 2 P.M., crossed the 
 Nottoway on our return. We found a division of the 9th 
 Corps on the farther bank to cover our crossing, and there 
 was some shelling after we were safely across. We went up 
 on the plank road about two miles and camped. It had been 
 growing cold all the afternoon, and as we passed between two 
 houses on fire we found quite a contrast in the temperature. 
 We were dry and did not suffer. The command did not 
 wait long for stragglers, and many had to swim the river to 
 escape the guerrillas. 
 
 We pitched some tents and were quite comfortable, although 
 the ground was freezing. About dark an infantryman came to 
 one of our fires, wet through, minus gun, ammunition, knap- 
 sack; said he was pursued by guerrillas and swam the river 
 
I56 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 to save himself. He stood by the fire most of the night to 
 keep from freezing. 
 
 December 12. About 8 A.M., we pry up the wheels of 
 our guns out of three inches of frozen mud and 
 resume our march and it was a hard march for 
 many. Some of the infantry who prided themselves on 
 being well shod when we started, were seen with a pair of 
 grain or calf top-boots on their backs, slung over musket or 
 sword, and picking their way along so carefully barefoot or 
 in stockings that mounted men and gun teams had to turn 
 out for fear of toppling them over, and we again see the 
 value of Government boots and shoes. 
 
 We arrive home at 3 P.M., and happy are we. It is the 
 coldest day so far * we were cold riding ; glad to walk. Our 
 cannoneers were footsore but wore their boots home. No 
 man was sick, no horse gave out ; and in two days' time we 
 look back with pleasure on the expedition, having got rested 
 and cleaned up. Capt. Bigelow came back while we were 
 gone. 
 
 Our stories are told, and we resume our camp life ; but we 
 do not enjoy our fine situation and nicely arranged quarters 
 long, as the Corps has gone in camp about three miles below 
 here, and we shall have to go there too. 
 
 WINTER QUARTERS, 1864-65. 
 
 December 15. Orders came to move our camp back to the 
 5th Corps, and in three days, with about fifteen teams, it was 
 done, all but our fireplaces. Our camp was laid out and we 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 1 57 
 
 were just beginning to put up our stockades, when Gen. 
 Wainright, chief of artillery, said there was a prospect we 
 should move again, and we stopped work, pitched our shelter 
 tents, and awaited orders. 
 
 Again we note Lieut. Foster has gone home. We have 
 marching orders, our guns only; 0-0 to garrison a 
 
 Dec. 19. 
 
 fort, and December 19, about 3 P.M., Capt. Bige- 
 
 low, Lieut. Milton, two sergeants, six gunners, forty-two men 
 and six guns start for Fort Rice, about three miles to the 
 right in the 9th Corps lines, a little to the left of our position 
 the 18th to 20th of June. We filed over the railroad bridge 
 on to a plateau in sight of the enemy's lines for two miles, 
 and a quarter of a mile back from our own works. 
 
 We soon found out what was the meaning of those cannon- 
 ades we have been hearing for four months, but did not see 
 or take part in. We were halted, and Capt. Bigelow and 
 bugler rode to the fort to find the position we were to occupy. 
 The enemy had seen us and began to throw shell from a 
 mortar battery on to us. It was something new for us, but 
 not for them, to see a battery outlined against the sky. It 
 was a beautiful sight to see those eight and ten-inch shells 
 cutting their parabola of fire against the darkening sky. 
 Most of their shot fell short, and none fell on us, although it 
 seemed as if they would. They came nearer ; one of the 
 swing drivers, who had never been under fire, became 
 nervous. As it came farther overhead, he began to slide off 
 his horse, ran to a little hollow and stooped down in it ; 
 finding it did not mean him, he got up and mounted again, 
 amid the laughter of his comrades. 
 
I58 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Capt. Bigelow reported to the commander of the battery 
 there, who said, " Well, you cannot come in till after dark ; 
 they will see you and shell you." Capt. Bigelow told him if 
 he would get his battery out of his way, he would come in ; 
 which he consented to do. He took his battery out by a 
 covered way. Ere his last gun was out, we were trotting 
 over the plain under the fire of all the enemy's mortars and 
 a large number of guns. Probably all the guns that could be 
 brought to bear were opened on us; some said 100 guns 
 were opened on us. 
 
 We place five guns in battery in the fort, and one in a 
 battery on the railroad bed where the lines cross it. In the 
 morning we find ourselves in an irregular earthwork about 
 seven feet high, well built and full of cabins built of cracker 
 boxes, covered with shelter tents. We find the 36th Mass. 
 Regiment camp just back of us; they are doing picket duty 
 in front of us. 
 
 Our stay in this fort was quiet and dull ; abundant time to 
 study, read or write. Once during our stay the enemy made 
 it lively for us, and shells fell thick around us, one strik- 
 ing within a few feet of my tent, but doing no damage. 
 
 December 25. Oar two weeks' garrison duty is ended and 
 our relief arrives, also our horses from our camp at winter 
 quarters In the gathering twilight we limber up and go 
 back to our camp, arriving about 7 P.M. Find we have to 
 sleep under shelter tents again ; the camp is laid out, but the 
 stockades are not done. Our quarters here are much larger 
 than we have had, and are arranged for eight men each, and 
 December 30 we occupy them. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 1 59 
 
 There is not much beauty to our camp ; it will do for a 
 winter camp, but not summer. It is in the edge of pine 
 woods, and we soon have a stable floored and shingled with 
 pine cut three feet long and split very well. Our artillery 
 is parked on a knoll ; next west is a row of eighteen stock- 
 ades ; south of them, orderly sergeant's tent; north, artificer, 
 quartermaster, commissary sergeant, stable sergeant, team- 
 sters, etc. ; next west is stable ; west of orderly sergeant, 
 clerk ; next west, officers' quarters, and north of those, cook- 
 house. 
 
 January 4, 1865. Lieut. Reed is in camp again, but not 
 , , „„. on duty. He has been away from the Battery so 
 
 Jan. 4, 1865. . * , f . . , y f . /. 
 
 long that we (the men) do not know anything 
 about him. Neither Lieuts. Prescott or Reed have done any 
 duty in the Battery that I have any record of since we arrived 
 at Petersburg. Sometimes we hear of their being sick in 
 camp, at the rear, then are away; so that we are none the 
 better off, and it will put us in more effective shape when they 
 are discharged, and men put in their places who are on duty. 
 
 The paymaster is abroad again ; always welcome to the 
 soldier, officer or private. 
 
 January 10. We have mounted inspection, complimentary 
 to Maj. Bigelow, who is discharged and goes home soon. He 
 issued a farewell address to the Battery as follows : 
 
 Winter Quarters, Va. January 10, 1865. 
 To the gth Battery Massachusetts I 'ols. 
 
 Now that the command is comfortably settled in winter quarters, 
 having received an honorable discharge on account of disability, 
 I take my leave of you. 
 
l60 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 To me the past is filled with pleasant memories and it is hard 
 to say the word, " Farewell." 
 
 We first met nearly two years ago within the fortifications of 
 Washington, when as yet, you were untried soldiers. 
 
 Today we part in the field, and you are veterans, who have won 
 an enviable name by your gallantry and blazoned your colors by 
 your valor. 
 
 Many valued comrades, that started, are no longer with you. 
 From the battlefield and the hospital, they have spoken their last 
 "farewells." Ever cherish their memories and emulate their 
 virtues. Guard well the reputation they have helped you to estab- 
 lish. This can only be done by strict discipline and ready 
 obedience. 
 
 You have yet a brilliant future before you under my successor 
 whom you have long known only to respect. 
 
 That you may be safely returned to your friends with a record 
 ever creditable alike to yourselves and your State, 
 
 Is the earnest wish of your late Captain, 
 
 JOHN BIGELOW. 
 
 Lieut. Milton is now captain ; First Sergt. Geo. Murray, 
 lieutenant ; Sergt. Park, first sergeant. 
 
 One of our men wrote home as follows : " It is pretty dull 
 here now, but only 200 clays more of service, of which thirty- 
 three are guard duty and the same of regular fatigue ; three 
 
 times mustered for pay, marching miles, fighting 
 
 battles, perhaps; 2,000 hard tack, 75 pounds of pork, 125 
 pounds of beef, to eat, 72 gallons coffee to drink, part of it 
 every day, and it will soon be done. " 
 
 January 11. Brevet Major Bigelow leaves today for home. 
 One year and eleven months ago he arrived at Upton's Hill 
 and took command of a " thoroughly demoralized body of 
 men" (according to Gov. Andrew), the 9th Mass. Battery, 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. l6l 
 
 and today he leaves the Battery full well equipped, in the 
 command of his youngest lieutenant, whose work with the 
 Battery at Gettysburg, Weldon Railroad, Hatcher's Run 
 and Rowan ty Creek, has made him a name with the 5th 
 Corps and the whole army. Our banners now are inscribed 
 with Gettysburg, Mine Run, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, 
 North Anna, Bethesda Church, Tolopotomy Creek, Peters- 
 burg, Weldon Railroad ; then we had only Annandale. 
 Many of them were bloodless, but all made work for us. 
 
 January 22. As our guns go in Fort Rice, all is quiet 
 when we go in this time. 
 
 January 27. General order, No. 126, for promotion; 
 Second Lieut. Murray to be first lieutenant; First Sergt. 
 Park to be second lieutenant, and George Booth, a civilian, 
 to be second lieutenant ; L. W. Baker to be first sergeant, 
 and Stable Sergt. Knight to be sergeant. 
 
 February 4. We go to Fort Rice for our guns, and as 
 „ , , soon as we return to camp an order comes to pre- 
 
 Feb. 4. . . 
 
 pare to march in the morning with four guns, six 
 caissons, with eight horses on each, ten pairs coming from 
 the 5th Battery. Capt. Milton is at home on leave, and 
 Lieut. Foster is in command now, and will be in command if 
 we march. 
 
 HATCHER'S RUN. 
 
 February 5. At 6 A.M., we are ready and file out of park 
 and go toward the left ; we find the 5th Corps in motion, and 
 our place in the column ; march down the Halifax road to 
 
1 62 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 near Reams Station. Some of the time we are on the 
 Weldon Railroad roadbed ; anywhere to get along. We 
 turned to the right and west on the old military road running 
 to Dinwiddie Court House ; two or three miles brought us to 
 Rowanty Creek. The crossing of the creek was defended by 
 a breastwork, a small force and one or two small guns ; they 
 were quickly dispersed and about twenty prisoners taken. 
 
 We lost no time, but pressed on till about 8 P.M., when we 
 suddenly countermarched and went back about a mile, and 
 were ordered by an aid-de-camp to park in a field on our left. 
 The forward gun and caisson turned into the field, and soon 
 were in the mud to the axles, and to the bellies of the horses ; 
 the second gun also plunged in. There was no officer near, 
 and the orderly sergeant halted the caisson and turned it into 
 a road in the edge of the woods, and as the other guns came 
 up turned them in there also, and rode to find the commander 
 and reported. On his arrival he approved of the action, and 
 we at once took measures to get out our stalled guns. Soon 
 the horses were all unharnessed, and after some struggling 
 they were all got out ; and by putting three prolonges 
 together, we manned them with sixty men, and drew the 
 guns out. It was the worst "stick in the mud" we ever got. 
 
 There were rumors that we were close to the enemy's 
 pickets, but we saw our own pickets in the edge of the woods, 
 and were not attacked. 
 
 About 4 A.M. we hauled out and went back about one 
 half mile, turned to the left, and about daylight came to 
 Hatcher's Run, and went in park on the southeast side of 
 the stream, in rear of a bridge built by the engineers, and 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 1 63 
 
 in rear of the ist Brigade, 3d Division, and lay quiet till 
 toward night. 
 
 There had been some skirmishing all day ; in the afternoon, 
 it became heavier and some charges were made near our 
 front. Between 4 and 5, the enemy massed a force, trying 
 to break through the right of the 5th Corps, and the left of 
 the 2d Corps. The assault was quite heavy and fierce. They 
 succeeded in breaking the line and forcing it back ; there 
 was a panic in our front, and our infantry came back through 
 a field in sight of us. 
 
 Fifth Corps and Army headquarters had been established 
 near our right. An aid came up and ordered us to go in 
 battery where we stood, and it puzzled the chief of the line 
 of caissons to countermarch six caissons behind four guns. 
 Our position covered the crossing of the creek and the field 
 beyond. Our guns were shotted and ready for the appear- 
 ance of the enemy; for thirty minutes we waited, but the 
 enemy had been checked before they appeared in our front. 
 We remained at our posts till about 4 A.M., when we 
 unharnessed. 
 
 During the panic a great many infantry came back across 
 the bridge and sought the cover of our battery. Lieut. 
 Booth, in command of the left section, drew his sabre and 
 ordered them to halt, saying, " You shall not come through 
 my section." 
 
 February 6. But very little sleep we get. At 6 A.M. 
 our guns were ordered across the bridge into a line of 
 breastworks, our caissons remaining where they were at first. 
 Gen. Warren laid out a new line of works, from the left of 
 
164 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the old line, crossing through our park of caissons, crossing 
 Hatcher's Run some distance below. 
 
 While Gen. Warren was running the line, with two or three 
 orderlies, having passed his headquarters tent 200 yards, 
 and having 200 or 300 yards more to stake out, Gen. Meade 
 and staff rode up to his tent. An aid, seeing him at a 
 little distance, rode to him and told him of the arrival of 
 Gen. M. He continued his line till the last stake was 
 driven, when he mounted and rode to his quarters to meet 
 Gen. Meade. 
 
 About 10 A.M., the morning of February 10, we were 
 relieved and returned to camp, having been gone six days. 
 
 February 21. A number of men from the 1st Mass. 
 Battery are assigned to this Battery, and twenty-two of them 
 came today; also two recruits, making 190 men now on our 
 rolls. We have to build more quarters to accommodate them. 
 Whenever we get any pleasant weather and good going, we 
 improve it by battery drills, and February 23 was one of 
 those days. 
 
 Just as we went in park, orders came to be ready to move 
 at a moment's notice. We remained harnessed till 9 P.M., 
 when we unharnessed and turned in, although we were to be 
 in readiness to march at short notice, but no orders came. 
 About 3 A.M. it commenced to rain. Capt. Milton came 
 back last night. 
 
 We were paid February 27. Also forty-seven men came 
 from the 1st Mass. Battery. Lieut. Murray went home on 
 furlough two days ago. 
 
 March 4. The guns go to Fort Rice today. All is quiet. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 1 65 
 
 March 12. The consolidation of Battery A's men with the 
 Qth was completed today, and there are 2ig men 
 
 Mar. 12. : , y _ 
 
 in camp tor duty now; one first sergeant, six ser- 
 geants and eight corporals will be mustered out soon, I 
 suppose. Some of our men are away yet, but they are 
 returning every day, and bringing pretty things, which make 
 us who do not go home uneasy. 
 
 March 19. The orders are issued reducing the batteries of 
 the 2d, 5th and 6th Corps to nine batteries of four guns 
 each ; and our battery is too large to handle in quick move- 
 ments, and we are ordered, when the army moves, to report 
 to the artillery reserve of the 9th Corps. Our guns are in 
 the 9th Corps lines already. The other battery sent from 
 the 5th Corps is B, 1st Pennsylvania. 
 
 March 21. Lieut. Park left for home on leave of absence, 
 and the enemy celebrated the event by shelling the fort. 
 More than thirty six and eight-inch mortar shells dropped 
 about the fort ; only two fell within the fort, but they were 
 quite harmless, as none burst. We are expecting to move. 
 
 March 23. We pack our surplus clothing to send to 
 Massachusetts, all that we can get along without through 
 spring and summer campaign. 
 
 March 25. While we were in line for roll call at reveille, 
 the attack on Fort Steadman commenced. The fort is six or 
 eight miles from us, and four or five miles to the right of 
 Fort Rice, yet the attack was heard very distinctly, and our 
 officers dismissed the line immediately. Before we got to 
 the stables, orders came to harness, and soon our limbers 
 and caissons started toward Fort Rice. About half way 
 
l66 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 there, they were halted and remained there till about 10 
 o'clock A.M., when they returned to camp. There were 
 about eighty men in camp unassigned to any detachment. 
 March 27. Orders came to break camp and report to the 
 
 NINTH CORPS. 
 
 It has been quiet here for several days ; we know that the 
 army is being prepared for a final grapple with the enemy. 
 Like an enormous boa constrictor, the folds have been drawn 
 tighter and tighter, and reaching farther and farther toward 
 its vitals (source of supplies), and the time is coming soon 
 when one great, crushing blow will be struck. We break 
 camp March 28, a pleasant morning, and go to near 9th 
 Corps headquarters. There is not much mud; the strong 
 winds of March have brushed out the marks of winter, filled 
 up the ruts, dried up the pools, and dust is everywhere, except 
 when rain is falling. 
 
 We are camped on a knoll a mile in the rear and in sight 
 of Fort Rice, where our guns still are. There is plenty going 
 on here, as the troops are passing in our front. 
 
 March 29. Wednesday morning, from 1 o'clock to day- 
 light the bugles were sounding "boots and saddles" and a 
 large body of cavalry is in motion toward the left, also the 
 Army of the James under Gen. Ord ; and Thursday night the 
 ball opened. A large number of mortars on both sides were 
 in action. The track of the shells was plainly seen from our 
 camp; a curve of light, sometimes terminating in a flash, as 
 the shells exploded in the air ; sometimes eight or ten were 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 167 
 
 in the air at one time. Tuesday night at 11 P.M. we had to 
 detail a guard to go to 9th Corps headquarters. While there 
 we heard that 120,000 men were to march the next morning. 
 Our camp is not very regular; our shelter tents are pitched 
 and we make ourselves comfortable. 
 
 March 30. A great deal of heavy cannonading today. 
 Last night it rained hard, but did not check any movement ; 
 the firing has been heavy all day. A very rainy day ; a 
 shower this afternoon and the thunder of the guns blended 
 with the thunder of the heavens. 
 
 April 1, Saturday. We have had a detail out for the last 
 ,, . two nights of twenty-eight or thirty, and at 1 1 
 
 April 1. . 
 
 P.M. a detail of sixty men left for the line of 
 battle to work as engineers in cutting and turning breast- 
 works, etc. Also orders came to harness at 2 A.M., 
 the 2d of April, and break camp. About 10 A.M. the 
 attack commenced by a heavy artillery fire, followed by 
 a charge. From a knoll a half mile in front of our 
 camp, we saw part of the line advancing on the right of 
 Fort Rice. 
 
 Our battery has been engaged all the time, but not 
 heavily ; we have had no casualties. The only incident I 
 have heard was of one of the gunners, who had seen some 
 wagons moving, sent a shell, which caused quite a stir 
 among them. 
 
 April 3. Monday morning, we take our guns from the fort 
 back to camp, and prepare for the march. At noon, Tues- 
 day, the 4th, we go to the left to the plank road and turn 
 toward Petersburg. We pass P'ort Davis, where we were in 
 
l68 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 July, the battery in front in June, up past Fort Sedgwick and 
 through the enemy's works where the tents were under- 
 ground, and on till we came in sight of the "Cockade City," 
 so called, looking not much the worse for war, but rather 
 seedy. Near the heart of the city, we turned to the left, and, 
 passing the smouldering ruins of the railroad buildings, we 
 pass out and toward Sutherland's Station on the South 
 Side Railroad, near which we camp for the night. While 
 passing through the city, one of our boys confiscated a 
 pretty sorrel mare, which followed us out and back to City 
 Point. 
 
 The next morning, April 5, we countermarch and take 
 another road, keeping near the railroad, as we are with the 
 3d Division, 9th Artillery Corps, which is repairing the rail- 
 road, and every night the cars run to our camp. We make 
 about six miles, and camp at Stewart's Tavern. Our marches 
 are uneventful. Our short marches are not hard enough to 
 keep men from straggling, and the sergeants report five 
 men missing. We camp the 6th at Ford's Station ; 
 April 7, Mellville ; 8th, in the woods near Nottoway Court 
 House. 
 
 We are getting into a section where the colored people's 
 imaginations were cultivated to believe that the Yankees 
 were devils, cannibals, had horns, and many other equally 
 grotesque ideas ; and the, " W'y, massa, don't see your 
 horns," was not unfrequently heard. Many the negro song 
 we heard in our camp, and dance we saw whenever a board 
 could be got. One song is a sample of many sung by a 
 quartette ; one singer, one clapping with both hands, one 
 
NINTH M \>SAClll T SETTS 1SATTERY. 169 
 
 with one hand and one foot, one dancing - . The words sung, 
 as I remember, were : 
 
 " Mouse in de corn, 
 De round top corn ; 
 Mouse in de corn, 
 De round top corn ; 
 .Mouse in de corn, 
 De round top corn ; 
 How shall we get him out 
 De round top corn ? 
 Rouse 'em out, and 
 Shuck 'em out 
 De round top corn." 
 
 And as long as we would look on and encourage, they would 
 sing this verse, clap and dance. 
 
 About one mile from camp, a well-stocked smokehouse 
 was found, and bacon seasoned our hard tack for some time. 
 Also we saw a sawmill with the saw in the middle of the log" 
 — a pit-saw, and the motive power, black men working 
 without pay ; their holiday came when the board was half 
 done, and they took the holiday. 
 
 About 5 P.M., April 8, we break camp and march two 
 miles ; halt beside the road, and a column of prisoners passed 
 us, from 5,000 to 7,000; they marched in double column, and 
 were one hour in passing. We were beside the 
 
 NOTTOWAY COURT HOUSE, 
 
 and I think their records were somewhat mixed before we 
 left. I have before me now two papers taken from there : 
 11 
 
I70 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 one a bill for tax on slave property ; the other a record of a 
 poll for commissioner of the revenue, made May 24, i860, 
 which declares by the certificate of the commissioners of 
 elections, the conductor and clerk, " that at a poll held at 
 Nottoway, Nottoway Co., Va., Francis L. Moseley and 
 Richard Hyde have thirty votes," while the accompanying 
 list of polls contains only twenty-seven names. 
 
 The column is past, and we take our line of march two 
 miles farther, and camp near the railroad and carriage road. 
 Our first day in this camp was April 9, Sunday, and our 
 camp was thronged with negroes, old, young, male and 
 female ; some in whole, but coarse clothes, some in patches ; 
 one man had twenty patches on his pants, by count, and 
 wooden bottom shoes, the uppers nailed on with shingle 
 nails. Some came nine miles to see the Yankees. They 
 say, "Glad to see you, massa; been specting you long time." 
 Several told me they had one pint of meal a day, and a piece 
 of meat as large as two fingers. 
 
 Four of the stray boys came in camp today, all mounted, 
 some on horses, some on mules, and with more or less plun- 
 der. They are celebrating the prodigals' return by carrying 
 a rail on their shoulders an hour. 
 
 Trains come from Petersburg, and are pressing on to 
 Burkeville, ten miles farther. We have no particular duties, 
 only to care for our camp. Our shelter tents are pitched 
 on a good piece of ground 100 yards from the railroad. 
 
 April 10, news came in camp of the surrender of Gen. Lee 
 and the Army of Virginia, and April 11, about 10 
 
 Apr. 10. 
 
 A.M., we were ordered to fall in ; when the line 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 171 
 
 was formed an order was read, announcing the surrender 
 of Gen. Lee, of which the following is a copy: 
 
 By Telegram from Headquarters Appomattox Court House. 
 
 April 9, 1865. 8 P.M. 
 To Col. Loring, Chief of Staff: 
 
 Gen. Lee this afternoon surrendered his entire army to Lieut. 
 Gen. Grant. Officers and privates to retain private horses, arms 
 and baggage. Officers and men to be permitted to return to their 
 homes, but not to be disturbed by U. S. authorities so long as they 
 observe the laws where they reside! All public property to be 
 turned over to the ordnance and quartermaster's depots. Rem- 
 nant about thirty thousand men. 
 
 April 10. Surrender is complete ; this morning munitions of 
 war, etc., turned over to the U. S., and Gen. Grant leaves for City 
 Point this morning. 
 
 Signed, TENNYMAN, 
 
 A. A. Adj. Gen. 
 Signed, < Schemerhorn) Operator. 
 
 We arc hopeful now. The work is accomplished that we 
 have been laboring for since the beginning, and now our 
 whole thought is turned toward home. A few have been 
 home since we started in '62, but most of us have not ; but 
 now we all anticipate going home before our three years are 
 up, our term of enlistment, qualified by the term "or the 
 war," which means something now. 
 
 For four days we labor to get ready. We wash and mend 
 our clothes, clean our horses, harnesses, guns, accouterments ; 
 our Government property to be ready to turn in, our private 
 property to carry home. We will not hinder ourselves when 
 the time comes for us to be discharged. 
 
I72 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 April i 5. After "taps," a messenger arrives with the intel- 
 ligence that the President has been assassinated. 
 
 It is impossible for my pen to write of the feelings we 
 experienced, but we expected more work to do, and were 
 ready to turn our guns on traitors there. We had kept an 
 account of the cost of the victory achieved, and it was too 
 large to have it wrested from us by assassins. Many men we 
 all loved had given up their lives, others were still suffering 
 from wounds or carrying disabled limbs ; many others 
 remember the weeks and months of hospital life, longing for 
 home or their comrades in camp. We all know how we have 
 suffered from heat, cold, rain and mud, the bivouac on the 
 frozen ground, and the all-night march. All these must not 
 go for naught. We have faced all this — a fire in the rear 
 we cannot bear. 
 
 Lieut. Park was at home when the assault on Petersburg 
 took place ; he at once started for City Point, but we had 
 <rone before he arrived. He found no communication with 
 the front ; he found the 5th Mass. Battery there, and was 
 constrained by them to stay there till the Battery was heard 
 from. 
 
 Many of us visit Burkeville Junction; see the parks of 
 captured artillery, and the ten cords of muskets piled up like 
 so much cord wood. On my trip up there I met three South 
 Carolina soldiers going home on foot ; they were very 
 anxious to get home. 
 
 We remained here till April 20, when we started on our 
 return, passing through Petersburg and arriving near City 
 Point April 23. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 1 73 
 
 We are in a brigade of the 
 
 ARTILLERY RESERVE NEAR CITY POINT, 
 
 of which Maj. Phillips of the 5th Mass. Battery is commander, 
 and Lieut. Park, adjutant. Everything now has to be done 
 by brigade orders, and at night we have brigade dress parade, 
 a new thing for us ; never have seen one before of light 
 batteries, and as we have 254 officers and men on our rolls, 
 and 252 in camp, we make as much show as two of the 
 other batteries of the brigade, and as we have no duties but 
 stable and guard, our work is light. 
 
 April 26. The non-commissioned officers of the 1st Mass. 
 are discharged today, and they leave for home. They were a 
 fine body of men and had seen considerable service; the last 
 engagement they were in was in the Shenandoah valley, in 
 the 6th Corps, October 19 and 20. First Sergeant Chase, 
 who commanded a section there, says : " I saw Gen. Sheridan 
 as ho rode up the valley, and all that was said of him and his 
 rallying the stragglers was true." 
 
 When we were at Nottoway Court Mouse, Gen. Sheridan 
 established his headquarters in a house beside our camp, and 
 an artist took a sketch of the famous horse of that Winchester 
 ride, a dark chestnut, Morgan built horse. I saw him several 
 times there. 
 
 There is some sickness here from some cause, and as we 
 expect to stay here only a short time, we do not fix up our 
 quarters only to be comfortable. Nothing of interest 
 occurred here ; our stay was short. Orders were received for 
 
174 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the Artillery Reserve to march overland to Washington, 
 being the first movement of the withdrawal of the army from 
 Virginia, and their discharge. 
 
 May 2, we take our ammunition chests, battery wagon, 
 forge, and all our heavy baggage to City Point and 
 ship by water ; Lieut. Booth and twenty-two men 
 Sfo with them. Our limbers and caissons are loaded with 
 grain and light baggage, and May 3 we start on our 140 miles 
 march. This is our first step homeward ; we feel that now 
 we are going home, and not to meet an enemy. 
 
 May 
 
 eS?2 
 
 
 We cross the Appomattox at Broadway Landing, and the 
 James at Akins, and march to about seven miles from 
 Richmond and camp near the line of works lately occupied 
 by the Confederate Army. We went into and examined one 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTKRY 
 
 175 
 
 battery 0! two ten inch guns commanding the river above 
 
 Dutch Gap. It was small, having a good magazine and 
 bombproof, and very neatly kept. 
 
 The next day we enter Richmond from the east, passing 
 up till we come to the street leading to the Mechanicsville 
 road; we go about two miles and camp about 11 A.M. 
 Some of the officers and men go hack and spend a lew hours 
 in Richmond. We camp near Hanover Court 1 louse. May 5, 
 
 n 
 
 SffsS - SB * -1H 
 
 "Pw ^"'FoJaiN^ TtieM*TTAPo»y /hay's. ^^i^gg| foiiga [gl 
 
 tfsSS«W^ 
 
 : EMS ■ ■ -^^ 
 
 Mff&1 
 
 _>ffi 
 
 
 and go through the Pamunky River so near its source that we 
 did not wet our grain, camping beyond at night. 
 
 May 7, we reach Bowling Green, where Booth was cap- 
 tured, and our horses get a good leed ot clover; and the next 
 day we go over some of the corduroy roads built by Sedgwick 
 at the time of the Chancellorsville campaign. A citizen 
 
I76 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 joined us for several miles in our march, and discoursed on 
 the trials and prospects of farming in Virginia. We camp 
 about two miles east of Fredericksburg. 
 
 May 9. We are on the road betimes, and pass through 
 Fredericksburg, a city built of brick, showing the marks of 
 war, and an impoverished country. We cross the Rappa- 
 hannock on a pontoon bridge, and are soon climbing the 
 Falmouth hills, and find our hardest marching this day, as 
 the mud is heavy, as usual for this part of the country. Our 
 camp at night is near Aqua Creek, and the next day's march 
 brought us to Dumfries. Headquarters of the brigade pass 
 us during the day. 
 
 May 11. We cross Wolf Run Shoals, a name familiar to 
 readers of news early in the war ; a wide, rocky, shallow 
 stream. Later we passed through Fairfax Court House, 
 where we met the 16th Mass. Battery, and were hailed by 
 the bugler, a fellow townsman, Charlie Warren, whose 
 familiar face reminded us of home. We camp near Annan- 
 dale, the scene of our first campaign, of thirty-six hours 
 duration, an all night march under Capt. De Vecchi and the 
 gallant Erickson and Whitaker. 
 
 A shower came up just as we went in camp ; a fine rail 
 fence was near and we proceeded to help ourselves. A guard 
 came running down, saying : " You must not take those 
 rails," and was very energetic to save them. Quartermaster 
 Whitmore told him : " You do not understand guard duty ; you 
 must not see anything only in front of you." He soon 
 understood and marched the whole length of the fence. As 
 soon as his back was turned, we cleaned out the whole fence. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERV. I J"/ 
 
 Mav \2. We remain in cam]) all da}'. It is twelve miles 
 tn Alexandria, the end of our march of 140 miles. It has 
 been rather hard on our men. In thirty-eight days we have 
 marched about 190 miles, and most of the men have done the 
 entire distance on loot ; today eight are barefoot. Before 
 our last march we had no opportunity to replenish our 
 clothing, and if we had we should have tried to have got 
 along without any new, as we felt our work was done, and we 
 wanted to get out of quartermaster's into store clothes. 
 
 May 13. We move our camp to 
 
 NEAR ALEXANDRIA. 
 
 We are in camp on the bank of a small stream of good water. 
 Across the valley to the northeast on a hill is a large fort ; 
 also southeast, another. Our cam]) is in the midst of the 
 defences 0! Washington. We lay quietly here, waiting for, 
 what next ? 
 
 .May 23. A large number of men and officers go to Wash- 
 ington to see the review of the Army of the 
 
 May 23. . . . ' . 
 
 rotomac, and they all report it a grand affair. 
 The next day a number went in to see the review of the 
 arm)' of Sherman, of which number was the writer. Our 
 party struck the column of Sherman before we reached Long 
 Bridge, and we kept our place in it in crossing, then swung 
 off to the left and scattered. A few put our horses up the 
 south side of Pennsylvania avenue, and on foot went to see 
 the sight. Going on to the avenue in advance of the head of 
 the column, we took a position to see it as it turned the 
 
178 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 corner at the Treasury, going toward the White House, and 
 secured a fine position for seeing it. Promptly at 9 A.M., 
 Gen. Sherman led the column, and they wheeled to the left 
 around the corner, marching by regiment in line, the four- 
 gun batteries of each corps following in line at close order. 
 It was a fine sight ; all the lines so perfect ; men so stalwart 
 looking. We readily recognized Gen. Logan by the pictures 
 we had seen of him. 
 
 The peculiar feature of the column passed down Pennsyl- 
 vania avenue, about 1 P.M. : that organization known as 
 ."Sherman's Bummers." They were organized under a com- 
 mand by themselves, and seemed to be by brigade and 
 regiment under commanders. Every man led a pack horse or 
 mule, and various was the make-up of those packs. About 
 the middle of the column was a brigade in which every one 
 had a game cock standing on their pack, and at intervals of a 
 few minutes one would crow, and immediately he would be 
 answered by every one in the brigade. It was amusing, and 
 many were the cheers they got from the sidewalks. 
 
 At 4 P.M., when I went for my horse, the rear of the 
 column had not passed around the Capitol, and the}" were in 
 motion all the time. My pass required me to be in camp at 
 6 P.M. at dress parade, and as I learned that Gen. Sherman's 
 trains were coming over Long Bridge, I found I would have 
 to go out by Aqueduct Bridge, and should have to ride five 
 to seven miles farther. I called for my horse and started ; a 
 few steps showed me something was wrong, and dismounting, 
 I found a forward shoe gone. I could find no blacksmith at 
 work. Now I could not ride to camp in two hours without 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 1 79 
 
 that shoo; I was in a dilemma. I suddenly thought of the 
 Alexandria ferry boat, feeling sure that my pass would take 
 me that way. I mounted and rode to the boat, went on 
 board, and in five minutes was sailing down the river. In 
 about one hour I landed, and a gallop of four miles over a 
 soft road brought me to camp on time. 
 
 May 25. A small party of us went to Mt. Vernon. The 
 day was fine, the roads good, distance about nine miles; an 
 excursion enjoyed by all. There were many visitors, and the 
 part}' was quite large that went through the house. It con- 
 tained a tew articles used by Gen. Washington in his 
 campaigns, and some of the furniture used by him in the 
 house. We rambled about the place three hours and leisurely 
 rode back to cam]). 
 
 Orders have been received to turn in our ordnance and 
 quartermaster's stores, which is a much easier task than it 
 was to draw them. It had been impressed on the non-com- 
 missioned officers, the importance of being able to account 
 for everything in their care, and the result had been that we 
 kept our ordnance stores up and gained on our quartermaster 
 stores; so we had enough of everything, and the receipt 
 could be signed at once. 
 
 May 29, we turned in our battery, and May 30, our horses 
 to another battery. We have some saddles, bridles, sabres, 
 belts and blankets ; and many things we gave away to 
 another battery that was short in their accounts. 
 
 June 1. Our shelter tents are struck for the last time; 
 our knapsacks are packed for our homeward march, 
 
 June 1. . ...... , ,. 
 
 and our drivers valises have become bundles. 
 
l80 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Our officers have only their private horses ; all of us are on 
 foot now. In the morning sun (6.30) we commence our six- 
 mile march. Many of us have not marched two miles for two 
 years and nine months, but we are going home and we don't 
 mind it now. At the order " Fall in for home," all were 
 present; none had to be accounted for; none excused from 
 duty ; last night's guard were in the ranks. We are the first 
 ones off ; the batteries cheer us as we leave. 
 
 The batteries loan our officers horses and wagons for our 
 baggage and knapsacks. We carry our haversacks and the 
 march is leisurely, and the morning finds us halted at the 
 foot of Capitol Hill for an hour or more, as the train is 
 arranged and our baggage loaded. Capt. Milton takes home 
 his own horses ; one he brought out, and one he bought from 
 Petersburg. 
 
 About 12 M., most of us are on platform cars, steaming 
 out of Washington for Baltimore, and about 3 P.M. we leave 
 Baltimore, and are at Havre De Grace at 7 P.M. ; at Phila- 
 delphia about 12.30 A.M. There we find a supper awaiting 
 us at the " Soldiers' Rest." 
 
 Our trip here is without incident, except a few cases of a 
 little too much whisky, and an affair of a stolen pipe at Havre 
 De Grace, which was found and returned from Philadelphia. 
 
 June 2, 12.30 A.M. We are not used to eating at this 
 hour, but we can make an exception this time, as we file into 
 the old cooper shop whose doors have been always open, and 
 the veteran and recruit have alike shared its hospitality. 
 Those of us who came out in '62, well remember our recep- 
 tion and the " God speed you " of those dark days ; others of 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. l8l 
 
 us who were in those trains filled with maimed and suffering 
 
 ones, those hot days of July, '63, when gentle and tender 
 hands ministered to our wants. But now all is different ; 
 faces wear another look, and joy and congratulation. We arc 
 bringing home one battle-torn battery flag and one national 
 bordered with crape. But few are present, scarce half a 
 score, but we have to guard our flag zealously to save its 
 tatters. 
 
 The fresh sandwiches and coffee refresh us, and soon we 
 arc bowling along on the Camden & Amboy road, and 
 about S A.M. we are aboard the boat for New York, and land 
 at 10.30, where we remain till 5 P.M., when we go on board 
 a propeller for Providence. More whisky shows itself. We 
 are on the main deck, and locked out of the cabins and 
 saloons. A few of the men wanted the whole boat, but the 
 sergeants were cool, and after the boat got under way, things 
 were quiet. Some rations were found that we did not bring, 
 which helped pacify some of the boys. 
 
 We made our beds amidst the freight, or wherever we 
 could find a place large enough to hold us. We were not 
 very warm or comfortable, and at daylight, when we landed, 
 were pretty tired and very sober. Soon we enter on the last 
 stage of our journey, by rail to Boston, and 9 o'clock A.M., 
 June 3, found us stepping from the cars in the Providence 
 depot, Boston — home to many of our company, almost home 
 to all of us. 
 
 Across the common we march to near the front of the 
 State I louse, where we halt and await orders, which do not 
 arrive till after midday. Fifty hours aero we were in Wash- 
 
1 82 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ington, at the foot of Capitol Hill, awaiting transportation 
 
 home; now so near, but we must be discharged from 
 
 GALLOUP'S ISLAND. 
 
 We are all here but two: Lieut. Booth stopped in New York, 
 and one in Baltimore, who came to us from Battery A, under 
 sentence of court martial. 
 
 Officers and men feel rather sore ; we were in hopes we 
 could have forty-eight hours' furlough, and Capt. Milton 
 applied to the authorities, Col. Clark, for that privilege, or to 
 be sent to camp at Readville, where we started from ; but 
 not a favor was obtained, and not a State officer did we see. 
 But few knew we had arrived ; a few friends came to see us. 
 Several had strayed away, the temptation to go home was so 
 strong; some had verbal leave from the Captain, and at I P.M., 
 when we arrived at the boat, a score or more were absent. 
 Capt. Milton and Lieut. Park went home; Lieuts. Foster and 
 Murray were with the company. We marched to the wharf 
 and went on board the boat. The company had not break- 
 fasted, and as yet no dinner, except the hard tack we brought 
 from Washington. In one hour we filed off the boat at the 
 island, and were met by the provost marshal and a guard. 
 
 It is but justice to the company, officers and men, to say 
 we were disappointed. When we went out there were plenty 
 to say "God speed" to us, but now not one to say "God 
 bless you." At the front we knew our business, but in this 
 new campaign of being mustered out we were on untried 
 ground. Our impressions of Galloup's Island were not the 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 1 83 
 
 best, and those of us who had been in the hospitals of Balti- 
 more, Philadelphia, Newark or New York, did not have a 
 very high opinion of the Veteran Reserve Corps, as we about 
 all had a chance to join it there. After we went on the boat 
 we did some growling, and some liberties were taken ; but 
 our officers had been too long in the army to see everything 
 that was done, or hear everything that was said by the men 
 under aggravating circumstances. Almost all of us were on 
 our honor, and all officers refrained from giving any orders 
 for show or parade. 
 
 The island had been used as a draft rendezvous by the 
 Government, was well furnished with barracks, and was 
 garrisoned by part or all of the 13th Regiment V. R. C. 
 After a conference between Lieut. Foster and the provost 
 marshal, Lieut. Foster ordered the orderly sergeant to bring 
 the company in line for inspection of knapsacks. It was 
 done in the usual manner, two ranks, face inward. The 
 sergeant reported that one man refused to take his place in 
 detachment (Ligal). Lieut. Foster said, " Let him be." 
 
 A detail from the island guard, V. R. C, of a sergeant and 
 two privates, commenced a search for contraband articles 
 (liquor). Soon I saw Ligal, who was twelve or fifteen files 
 from the right, drinking from a canteen hung from VV. H. 
 Isaacs' shoulder. The officer of the day, seeing it, stepped 
 up and tried to take it away by force. They resisted, Isaacs 
 being forced by the strap around him. In the scuffle they 
 passed out of sight in a crowd of V. R. C. soldiers, and 
 towards the water. In a few seconds I heard the report of a 
 pistol, and Isaacs staggered out of the crowd and fell on his 
 
184 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 knapsack. By order of Lieut. Foster, I detailed some men 
 and carried him to the hospital ; but before we arrived he was 
 dead. No one was apparently under the influence of liquor. 
 A few men left their places during the excitement, but most 
 remained as they were ; the search or inspection stopped. 
 Lieut. Foster said he would be responsible for any infraction 
 of rules, and we were assigned to our quarters. 
 
 The officers were some distance from their command, and 
 their influence was not apparent among the men, who were 
 in charge of the orderly sergeant ; but thanks to Sergts. 
 Huntress, Knight and Manning, and some others, their 
 influence helped keep down the deep indignation that pre- 
 vailed. A few by loud talk made themselves trouble, but 
 only John Ligal and Robert S. Reed were kept under arrest 
 after the company was discharged. 
 
 June 4 was the Sabbath, and we had no duties, either 
 guard or fatigue. The Battery records show what 
 was done by us. The following petition was sent 
 to Col. Hendrickson, of which no notice was taken : 
 
 Galloup's Island, B. H., Mass., June 4, 1865. 
 
 Col. John Hendrickson, Commanding Post. 
 
 Respected Sir : — As a fitting expression of sorrow for the untimely 
 death of our lamented fellow soldier, and one of more than usual 
 worth, having been promoted from the ranks for bravery at the 
 battle of Gettysburg, while serving in the nth Mass. Infantry, we 
 respectfully request that the flag be lowered to half-mast from 
 9 A.M. till sundown. In behalf of 9th Mass. Battery, 
 
 LEVI W. BAKER, First Sergt. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 1S5 
 
 Also request for leave of absence for twenty-four hours : 
 
 Headquarters oth Mass. Battery, June 4, 1865. 
 
 To (apt. John E. Smith, A. A. A. G., Galloup's Island, I!. H. 
 
 Captain: — I respectfully request leave of absence for twenty- 
 four hours to visit Boston. 
 
 Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 GEORGE MURRAY, 
 
 First Lieut, gth Mass. Battery. 
 
 Approved and respectfully forwarded, 
 GEO. W. FOSTER, 
 
 First Lieut, commanding gth Mass. Battery. 
 
 (Endorsement.) 
 
 Headquarters Draft Rendezvous, Galloup's Island. 
 
 B. H., Mass., June 4, 1865. 
 
 Disapproved. By order of Col. John Hendrickson, Command- 
 ing Post. 
 
 J. E. SMITH, Capt. and A. A. A. Gen'/. 
 
 June 5. Capt. Milton and Lieut. Park and most of the 
 others came down by the early boat, and on arrival received 
 the following: 
 
 Headquarters Draft Rendezvous, 
 Provost Marshal's Office, Galloup's Island, 
 P.. 11., Mass., June 5, 1865. 
 Commanding Officer, oth Battery Mass. Volunteers. 
 
 Sir: — I have the honor to inform you that the following named 
 enlisted men of your command have this day been confined at this 
 Post, by order of provost marshal, for disorderly conduct and using 
 threatening language to their superior officer: 
 
 12 
 
1 86 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 George H. Golliff, George A. Bernard, John W. Lord, Patrick 
 Conlan. 
 
 I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 ANDREW BAZNE, 
 Capt. ijt/i Regiment, J'. R. C, Provost Marshal. 
 
 We do not know just what occurred or was said at head- 
 quarters after Capt. Milton arrived, but suspect there was 
 some plain talk ; but the four men arrested for using threat- 
 ening language were soon released. 
 
 There was some kind of an investigation among the 
 officials of the island, but our officers had no part in it except 
 as witnesses, and the officer of the day was acquitted of all 
 blame in shooting Isaacs. The trouble delayed our muster 
 out a day or two, but soon several men were at work on the 
 rolls, and we got furloughs for twenty-four hours. 
 
 Most or all of the Boston papers contained notices of the 
 tragedy. The Boston Herald, Journal and Advertiser con- 
 tained notices of the affair, receiving their information from 
 the officers of the Post, and it was rather one-sided. 
 
 June 6. John Ligal and Robert S. Reed were sent to Fort 
 Independence. 
 
 June 7. In the afternoon the company were called to- 
 gether informally, and the feelings of the Battery embodied 
 in resolutions, and a committee chosen to carry them into 
 effect, and to act as guard at the funeral. 
 
 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 At a meeting of the members of the 9th Mass. Battery, held at 
 Galloup's Island, June 7, 1865, of which First Sergeant L. W. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 187 
 
 Baker was president and Private Isaac F. Eaton secretary, the 
 following preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted : 
 
 Preamble : As in the Providence of an all-wise God, our beloved 
 friend and comrade, Wm. H. Isaacs, has been taken from us in a 
 manner so sad and sudden, therefore, be it resolved, by his com- 
 rades of the 9th Mass. Battery: — 
 
 1st, That we will ever cherish his memory with affection and 
 pride. His uniform kindness and unassuming manner won our 
 affection, and his history as a soldier in the nth Mass. Regiment, 
 in which he first served, and where he won deserved promotion for 
 his daring bravery in battle, is our pride and admiration. During 
 his service of over four years he has ever shown himself worthy of 
 a proud position in the list of those who loved honor and country 
 more than life ; and 
 
 2d, We can only think with feelings of the deepest sadness on 
 the circumstances of his removal from us at such a moment, and 
 with the greatest condemnation and shame for the arm nerved to 
 do no braver deed ; and 
 
 3d, That our sincerest sympathy be tendered to the wife and 
 mother of the deceased, accompanied by our prayer that in this 
 great sorrow they may resign their will to His who controls all in 
 love as well as wisdom • and 
 
 4th, That we will, as a token of respect for the memory of the 
 deceased, wear the usual sign of mourning on our left arm for the 
 period of ten clays ; and 
 
 5th, That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the family and 
 friends of our deceased comrade, and three of the daily journals of 
 Boston. 
 
 A committee consisting of the following members — Willard 
 Chaffin, Sergt. J. H. Manning, Sergt. N. Lowell, Sergt. H. C. 
 Knight, and James N. Dunn — was unanimously chosen and 
 empowered to carry into effect the objects of the meeting. 
 
 ISAAC F. EATON, Secretary. 
 
 N. B. $500 have been raised by the members of the Battery, 
 which, after paying the funeral expenses, will be conferred upon 
 the wife of the deceased. 
 
1 88 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 I find the following in a file of the Boston Herald, dated 
 June 7, 1865 : 
 
 The funeral of W. H. Isaacs, who was shot by an officer at 
 Galloup's Island on Saturday, took place yesterday afternoon from 
 St. Matthew's church, South Boston ; the service being performed 
 by Rev. J. T. Cooledge, who also delivered a funeral address. 
 The remains were escorted to the grave in Mt. Hope Cemetery by 
 a detachment of the 9th Mass. Battery, under Corp. J. H. Wiley ; 
 and eight members of the old 1st Battery, in which the deceased 
 had formerly served, acted as pall bearers, while a large delegation 
 of the past members of the nth Mass. Regiment, comrades of the 
 deceased, showed their respect for his memory by following him to 
 the grave. 
 
 Slow progress was made in making the rolls, a second set 
 having to be made ; but finally, June 9, we were paid off and 
 discharged, so we were able to take the boat at 5 P.M. for 
 Boston, landing about 6, and a few hurried handshakings and 
 "Good luck to you," and we scattered, never to meet all 
 together again. 
 
 The following correspondence is on file : 
 
 Fort Independence, B. H., August 3, 1865. 
 Respected Sir: — Having received a copy of my charges, I very 
 respectfully forward the same to you for your perusal, and also to 
 inform you that my trial comes on next Monday, Aug. 7. I would 
 very respectfully ask you to procure for me, if possible, some 
 witnesses to substantiate my innocence. John Ligal's charges are 
 the same as those. We would respectfully ask you to find, if 
 possible, Frank Patrick, as he is a witness that would be of vital 
 moment to us, also ask Corp. McCarty if he will please to appear 
 there as a counsel in our case. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 189 
 
 We would, if possible, request the attendance of all our officers, 
 
 or as many of them as could appear, and also as many men as you 
 
 can find. Trusting that you will oblige us in this, 
 
 We remain very respectfully yours, 
 
 ROBERT S. REED, 
 
 JOHN LIGAL. 
 To Capt. R. S. Milton. 
 
 Charge and Specification preferred against Private Robert 
 Reed, 9th Battery, Mass. Volunteers : 
 
 Charge : Offering violence against his superior officer. 
 Specification : In this, that he, Private Robert Reed, 9th Battery, 
 Mass. Volunteers, did offer violence against his superior officer, 
 Andrew C. Bazne, Capt. 13th Regiment, V. R. C, provost marshal, 
 with intent to kill, and did by speech and gesture incite others to 
 join him in said assault, he, Capt. A. C. Bazne, 13th V. R. C, 
 provost marshal, being in the execution of his office. This at or near 
 Galloup's Island, Boston Harbor, Mass., on or about the 3d day 
 of June, 1865. 
 
 Witnesses: Capt. A. C. Bazne, 13th V. R. C, provost marshal. 
 Capt. J. W. Jordan, 13th V. R. C. 
 First Lieut. E. T. Armstrong, 13th V. R. C. 
 Corp. James S. Coombs, " " 
 
 Corp. Louis Roberts, " " 
 
 Signed, ANDREW C. BAZNE, 
 
 Capt. ijt/i ]'. R. C, provost marshal. 
 
 Major General Dix, Commanding Department of the East. 
 
 General: — We, the undersigned, late commissioned officers of 
 the Ninth ( 9th ) Massachusetts Battery, which was mustered out of 
 the service of the United States June 6, 1865, respectfully repre- 
 sent that at the time of the aforesaid muster out, two privates 
 belonging to the command, John Ligal and Robert Reed, were and 
 are held under arrest at Fort Independence, Boston Harbor, to 
 await court martial for alleged mutinous and riotous conduct at 
 Galloup's Island, in connection with the affair which resulted in 
 the shooting and killing of Private Isaacs of the Battery. 
 
I90 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Both Ligal and Reed are veterans in the service, the former 
 having been a member of the 9th Battery since its organization, 
 August 10, 1862, and Reed having been originally a member of the 
 1st Mass. Battery, a three years company; at the expiration of his 
 term of service re-enlisted, and was transferred to the 9th Battery 
 some five months ago, upon the breaking up of the 1st Battery. 
 Both, while with the 9th Mass. Battery, have ever been faithful in 
 the performance of their duties, quiet, obedient and soldierly in 
 their deportment, and never before this affair have been under 
 arrest. Private Ligal has always served as a cannoneer, been 
 present in all the engagements of the command with the enemy, 
 and always been conspicuous for his gallant conduct. Private 
 Reed has an equally creditable and even longer record. 
 
 Being the first command of the Army of the Potomac to arrive 
 home under the late orders for discharge, much to their disappoint- 
 ment they found no arrangements provided for their disposition. 
 After much delay, they were finally ordered down to Galloup's 
 Island, a place associated in their minds with substitutes and 
 bounty jumpers. Their long delay in the city enabled a few to 
 obtain liquor, of which they had long been deprived, and so easily 
 became intoxicated. Immediately on arriving at Galloup's Island, 
 the colonel commanding post ordered his provost guard to search 
 for liquor, virtually relieving the Battery officer in command of the 
 company of his authority, and treating his command as if they were 
 bounty jumpers, and not veterans, who had won an honorable 
 name for themselves on the battlefields of the Army of the 
 Potomac, whose orderly conduct had become a by-word among 
 their associates ; for they had never had a comrade court-martialed, 
 and who had never before beheld men belonging to another 
 military organization, armed with bayonets and muskets, ordered 
 among them to perform what they knew to be only a proper 
 military precaution, and would gladly and quietly have submitted 
 to from their own officers, or even corporal's guard. This we say 
 was an additional annoyance to the command already mortified 
 and disappointed with their cavalier treatment. To make matters 
 still worse, the provost guard was under the charge of a rash and 
 inconsiderate officer, who, though having an ample force armed 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 191 
 
 and equipped under his orders, became excited over improper 
 conduct of several drunken men, and instead of ordering his guard 
 to make arrests, joined in a mflee with them and personally tried to 
 deprive them of their liquor. Thus forgetful of his own rank and 
 position in the service, allowing his passion full sway, he placed 
 himself on a level with drunken privates, got throttled and pun- 
 ished, and finally prefers charges, where he might have drawn 
 valuable inferences for future guidance. At this time, General, an 
 officer of the day rushed out from his quarters, and, without wait- 
 ing to see what was going on, or give any orders, shot Private 
 Isaacs dead, and then, with the brand of Cain upon him, though 
 officer of the day, leaves the island at midnight, only to return after 
 days had elapsed. 
 
 Such was the reception of the command at Galloup's Island, 
 worse even than their liveliest fears anticipated. 
 
 We have recurred to the above facts, though imperfectly, to show 
 that this unfortunate and discreditable affair has at least two sides 
 to be considered. We do not wish to excuse drunkenness nor 
 urge it in palliation ; but feeling as we do, that the responsibility 
 rests to a great degree with the officers stationed at Galloup's 
 Island for what occurred, and in consideration of the previous 
 good conduct, as well as faithful services on many battlefields, of 
 Privates John Ligal and Robert Reed, and their punishment by 
 already two weeks confinement, 
 
 Your petitioners respectfully ask that you will regard them with 
 leniency, and order their release from arrest, and issue such other 
 orders as may insure their early discharge from the service, to 
 which they are entitled, and which their arrest has delayed. 
 
 Signed, 
 
 R. S. MILTON, late captain. 
 
 GEO. W. FOSTER, late first lieutenant. 
 
 GEO. .MURRAY, 
 
 GEO. BOOTH, late second lieutenant. 
 
 WM. PARK, Jr. 
 
 Boston, June 20, 1865. 
 
I92 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Of the fate of the two prisoners, we learn that Robert S. 
 Reed was discharged, as there was not evidence to hold him. 
 John Ligal was confined some time at Fort Independence, 
 was finally tried by court martial and found guilty, and 
 sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment, dishonorable dis- 
 charge, loss of all pay and allowances. One strong circum- 
 stance was against him. He got in Boston a light summer 
 cap and wore it down on the boat, and he was recognized by 
 that. It is said that the Judge Advocate was favorably 
 impressed that the sentence should be light, but he said, 
 " He was a private soldier, the other was an officer, and the 
 circumstances required that some notice should be taken of 
 the affair, and he must be convicted, or the officer would be 
 placed in a bad situation as to killing Isaacs." 
 
 When Ligal was returned to the fort, he was all broken up ; 
 said he had rather die at once than go to prison. All of us 
 who had marched with him for nearly three years, gave him 
 credit for many virtues. Large hearted, generous, ever 
 ready to do his share of work, always at his post in battle, or 
 on guard, not knowing fear, he was a good soldier. Like 
 many others of us, whisky was his enemy and got him into 
 trouble. An Italian by birth, little education, no friends of 
 influence, his case was a hard one. 
 
 On going to the guardroom from supper, he concealed and 
 carried a bread knife with him. 
 
 When prisoners were convicted and sentenced to be con- 
 fined in any other prison, they were confined in a casemate 
 opening into the guardroom, with an iron door. Instead of 
 the usual custom, Ligal was left in the common prison or 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. I93 
 
 guardroom where they all slept. There was a prisoner there, 
 confined as a bounty jumper; he was a smart, ingenious 
 man, and had much to do about the fort ; he had not been 
 tried, and had made preparations to escape, if sentenced. 
 Feeling a sympathy for Ligal, he approached him and tried 
 to calm him ; told him to go to bed and pretend to go to 
 sleep ; that after the others were asleep, he would tell him 
 something of advantage to him. After all was quiet, he 
 came to him and told him of a stone cut in two, one half 
 movable, that would let him out of the room, and where he 
 would find a rope long and strong enough to let him down 
 outside the fort ; of a certain chimney to put it around ; of 
 the beat of the guard on that side, long and partly out of 
 sight ; and when he was going from him, to lower himself 
 down ; at the hour of low tide, the channel would be 
 narrow toward South Boston flats, and he could swim it 
 easily. Ligal carried out the programme, escaped, and 
 made his way to a town near Boston, where a comrade 
 cared for him, and friends aided him in leaving the 
 country. 
 
 Comrades, you are now so scattered that we shall never 
 all meet again here. I have the address of only eighty-eight. 
 The deaths of forty-eight have been reported, and they are 
 recorded in the records of the Associates. There are sixty- 
 three comrades who enlisted in '62, whose address we do not 
 know. 
 
 Forty-eight of our comrades have died since we enlisted, 
 and perhaps others we do not know of. The first was : 
 
194 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Pri. Geo. W. Stafford, 1862. 
 Edwin H. Babson, 1863. 
 Lieut. C. Erickson, Gettysburg. 
 
 " A. H. Whitaker, " 
 Sergt. C. E. Dodge, 
 " J. L. Fenton, 
 Pri. John Crosson, " 
 C. B. Nutting, 
 Jas. F. Gilson, 
 
 Pri. Henry Fen, Gettysburg. 
 Adolph Lipman, " 
 Austin Packard, " 
 Nathan H. Brand, 1864. 
 Corp. L. J. Sanderson, " 
 Sergt. W. H. Dawes, " 
 
 Corp. Levi Lincoln, " 
 
 Pri. Byron Porter, " 
 
 Wm. H. Isaacs, 
 
 DATE NOT KNOWN. 
 
 Lieut. Geo. W. Foster. 
 
 " Geo. Murray. 
 
 " Geo. H. Prescott. 
 
 Corp. Zimri Whitney. 
 
 " W. L. Tucker. 
 
 Pri. John Buckman. 
 
 Ralph C. Blaisdell. 
 
 Jos. Bailey, Jr. 
 
 John H. Clark. 
 
 Geo. Doherty. 
 
 M. E. Fay. 
 
 Chas. A. Guinn. 
 
 S. H. Goodwin. 
 
 J. A. Harvey. 
 
 Orin C. Hussy. 
 
 Pri. John H. Kelly. 
 John A. McCarty. 
 Jas. McDavitt. 
 John R. Marten. 
 M. L. Martin. 
 Geo. McFarlin. 
 H. F. Nash. 
 E. A. Noyes. 
 S. N. Parker. 
 Orin Reynolds. 
 Edward Rouse. 
 Reuben B. Rice. 
 C. F. Sexton. 
 Wm. W. Snelling. 
 John Ligal. 
 
 1865. 
 
 The following letters are of interest to all. 
 Weekly Times, Philadelphia, June 14, 1877 : 
 
 From the 
 
 THE ARTILLERY AT GETTYSBURG. 
 
 Cap/. Bigelow correc/s an error in Col. Os bonis recen/ paper. 
 To the Editor of the Times : 
 
 I have read with interest Col. Osborn's account of the part 
 taken by the artillery under his command at Gettysburg, published 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 1 95 
 
 in the Weekly Times of May 31, but am compelled to take exception 
 at what he says regarding Capt. Winslow, Battery D, 1st New York 
 Light Artillery, who fought on another part of the field from him- 
 self, and about whom he cannot speak of his own knowledge. In 
 referring to Gen. Howard's article in the Atlantic Monthly for July, 
 1S76, Col. Osborn calls attention to what he is pleased to suggest 
 as "the mistake of writing Bigelow for Winslow, doubtless owing 
 to the similarity in pronunciation," and afterward he makes a 
 quotation, substituting the name Winslow where in the original the 
 name ISigelow occurs. Gen. Howard was correct, and Col. Osborn 
 is in the wrong. The battery referred to was the 9th Massachu- 
 setts, commanded by myself, and I bear on my side the scars of 
 the wound mentioned therein. Major McGilvery commanded the 
 2d Brigade Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac, to which my 
 battery, the 9th Massachusetts, was attached. When the 3d Corps 
 (Sickles') became hard pressed by Longstreet, on the afternoon of 
 July 2, McGilvery's brigade was sent .to his support. The 9th 
 Massachusetts Battery was first placed in position on the left of 
 Sickles' line, not far from the Peach Orchard, and alone remained 
 after the 3d Corps had been driven from its position — both 
 infantry and artillery. Being ordered by McGilvery to retire, I 
 fixed prolonge, and with my left section scattering canister to keep 
 off a line of skirmishers which were pressing me on my left front, 
 and with my centre and right sections sending solid shot against a 
 line of Confederate infantry which, having defeated Sickles, were 
 re-forming near the Peach Orchard for a further charge, I allowed 
 the recoil to retire my guns to the corner of the stone wall, near 
 A. Trostle's house. Just as I was limbering up to get through the 
 stone wall and back on the line of Cemetery Ridge proper, Maj. 
 McGilvery came to me and said : " There is not an infantryman 
 back of you along the whole line from which Sickles moved out. 
 You must remain where you are and hold your position at all 
 hazards, until, at least, I can find some batteries to put in position 
 and cover you. The Rebels are coming down on you now." I im- 
 mediately ordered my guns unlimbered and the ammunition taken 
 from the chests and laid by the guns. Hardly were the guns double- 
 
I96 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 shotted before the enemy appeared above a swell of the ground 
 about fifty yards in my front, and I became heavily engaged. 
 
 Owing to large stone bowlders interfering with my left section, I 
 ordered Lieut. Milton to take it out and to the rear. In accom- 
 plishing this, most of the horses were shot, and one of the pieces 
 was drawn off by hand, but the right and centre sections remained 
 until overwhelmed by the enemy, who came in on their unprotected 
 flanks. While we were thus engaged, McGilvery succeeded in 
 placing the 6th Maine (Dow) and 5th Massachusetts (Phillips) 
 Batteries in position on the high ground in my rear (Cemetery 
 Ridge proper). When I was raised from the ground, the enemy, 
 who had come in on the flanks of the battery, were standing on 
 the chests shooting down my cannoneers, who were still serving 
 their guns ; but McGilvery was ready. I ordered my men to stop 
 firing and get back to our lines as best they could. Dow and 
 Phillips immediately opened fire on their positions, and the enemy's 
 advance in this direction was stopped, although there were no 
 infantry on our line for some time afterward. Later in the evening 
 my guns were re-taken, and I kept them until the end of the war. 
 
 In this engagement, of four officers on the field, one (Erickson) 
 was killed, and two wounded, one (Whitaker) mortally ; six ser- 
 geants and twenty-two enlisted men were killed or wounded, and 
 eighty horses killed or disabled. Besides other ammunition, ninety- 
 two rounds of canister were expended, mostly at close quarters. 
 
 JOHN BIGELOW. 
 
 Philadelphia, June 2, 1879. 
 
 FROM "THE SOUTHERN REVEILLE." 
 
 Port Gibson, Clairborne County, Mississippi, May ig, 1877. 
 
 The Blue and the Gray — -Unpublished Letters Across the Chasm. 
 Reminiscences of War and Gettysburg. 
 
 It has been our good fortune, after persistent efforts, to get 
 control of the following letters, which we had the pleasure of 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. I97 
 
 reading last summer. These letters refer more particularly to the 
 great battle of Gettysburg, but they are so full of noble expressions, 
 and so illustrative of the sentiments of the soldiers, as contradis- 
 tinguished from the narrow contractedness of political demagogues, 
 that it is pleasant to read them, and to see in them the magnanimity 
 that characterizes the soldier and the hero. The first is from Col. 
 John B. Bachelder, a distinguished Federal officer during the war, 
 and author of several popular works touching the war and its 
 incidents, known as "The Gettysburg Publications." The letter 
 to which the following from Col. Bachelder is a reply, has been 
 mislaid, but the published letter shows the drift of the missing one : 
 
 LETTER FROM COL. BACHELDER TO GOV. HUMPHREYS. 
 
 "Chelsea, Mass., May 7, 1876. 
 
 Gen. B. G. Humphreys, Vicksburg, Miss. 
 
 My Dear Sir: — On returning from Philadelphia this morning, 
 I found your esteemed favor of the 1st instant awaiting me. This 
 completes the chain of description along that portion of Longstreet's 
 line. I shall be glad to find a few intelligent officers from Semme's 
 and Benning's Brigades, who can explain their movements a little 
 more fully. I now have all the positions to complete my contract 
 with the Government, but the history, upon which I have spent 
 years of study, is yet to be written, and in completing that, I shall 
 avail myself of your courteous offer, and write you sometime in the 
 future in more detail. You will see the necessity for this when I 
 tell you I have the official report of every Union regiment and 
 brigade, and also battery commander, in your front. Each has his 
 story to tell, and I desire to meet each with as full statements as 
 possible. I wish you would make out a list of officers from each 
 regiment, at your leisure, and send to me, that I may get as 
 complete data as possible of the movements. When I get ready to 
 take up that part, I will write you again. I think you are right in 
 placing Watson's Battery a little farther to your right. I knew 
 pretty well where the flank regiments were engaged, and by 
 
I98 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 analogy supposed the line continuous, but your letter explains 
 why a vacant space occurred. 
 
 Recurring to your letter, I will briefly say, the four guns you 
 captured at the foot of the hill were from Bigelow's 9th Massachu- 
 setts Battery of six guns. This was its first action. It, with 
 others, had been engaged with three of Kershaw's regiments. 
 When you appeared on his right he retired with fixed prolonge until 
 entangled in an angle of stone fence. At that moment Maj. 
 McGilvery, his brigade commander, dashed up to him and ordered 
 him to stay at that point as long as possible, and sacrifice his battery, 
 if need be, to enable a new line to be formed on the opposite side 
 of the ravine. You know how well the order was obeyed. Capt. 
 Bigelow was wounded twice. Lieut. Erickson, already wounded, 
 was killed. Lieut. Whitaker was mortally wounded. Six out of 
 seven sergeants were killed or wounded, with one third of the men 
 of the battery, and eighty out of eighty-eight horses placed hors de 
 combat. There was no colonel of artillery killed, and I think Lieut. 
 Erickson must have been the man you speak of. I know Capt. 
 Bigelow intimately, but don't know whether he is in Boston now ; 
 I will ask him about his horse when I see him ; I had the impres- 
 sion his horse was shot. Two guns were saved by tearing down a 
 portion of the stone wall. Three of the four were regained that 
 night, and the fourth next day. Gen. Sickles was wounded a few 
 minutes later, on the east side of the ravine, while riding towards 
 Watson's Battery. First Lieut. Watson, commanding the battery, 
 was wounded in the knee, from which his leg was amputated. At 
 this critical moment of the battle, Willard's Brigade, of the 2d 
 Army Corps, came down from the direction of Cemetery Hill. 
 The 39th New York (Garibaldi Guards) was detached as reserve, 
 and the other three regiments (111th, 125th and 126th New York) 
 charged Barksdale's left. Willard was instantly killed, and Barks- 
 dale fell mortally wounded. His troops were repulsed and Willard's 
 command followed nearly up to Alexander's guns, which had been 
 advanced to the Emmittsburg road. At about this time, two regi- 
 ments of Slocum's (Lockwood*s Brigade) came up on Willard's 
 left, and participated slightly. Capt. Fassit, of Gen. Sickles' staff, 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 
 
 199 
 
 who had guided these troops, while returning, saw Lieut. Peeples, 
 of Watson's Battery, standing on a rock gesticulating wildly and 
 pointing to his guns, just being reversed by your men. Capt. 
 Fassit knew of the Garibaldi Guards being detached, and at once 
 brought them up, Lieut. Peeples leading with a musket. These 
 were the troops you met last. 
 
 Not having witnessed these scenes, and being entirely dependent 
 on the statements of others, 1 can only get at the truth after 
 careful study, knowing full well the natural tendency to exaggera- 
 tion. This is why I have so long delayed writing. There is much 
 of interest connected with the engagement of your brigade, and I 
 hope 1 may get full letters from officers of each regiment. I am 
 particularly desirous of hearing from the iSth, and what they know 
 of the engagement of Wilcox on their left. Wilcox's and Perry's 
 Brigades moved after Barksdale had advanced to the attack. 
 After a few yards they moved by the left flank in the valley, then 
 by the front, crossed the Emmittsburg road, and continued to the 
 ravine, but 1 have an impression that their final movement was 
 after Barksdale's repulse, as Col. Forney, 10th Alabama, says there 
 were no organized troops on his right, and his was the right regi- 
 ment of Wilcox's Brigade. He was wounded and captured. 
 
 Write for any further details you want. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 J NO. B. BACHELDER." 
 
 From the foregoing letter it will be seen that Capt. Bigelow (a 
 historic name) of the 9th Massachusetts, ascertained information 
 and facts of which he had long been in pursuit, that is, who fought 
 him and destroyed his brave and gallant command at Gettysburg. 
 
 LETTER FROM CAPT. BIGELOW TO GEN. B. G. HUMPHREYS. 
 
 "40 Water St., Boston, July 13, 1876. 
 Dear Sir : — I happened to meet Col. Bachelder, the encyclopedia 
 of the battle of Gettysburg, yesterday, with whom I am well 
 acquainted, and his first greeting was, ' I have found out who were 
 
200 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 fighting you at Trostle's house.' He gave me your address, as 
 former commander of the 21st Mississippi Regiment. Now, sir, 
 I entertain the highest regard for the gallantry and bravery of the 
 men who so fearlessly faced my guns, double-shotted with canister, 
 though of course it was my exposed flanks and lack of infantry 
 support that caused the destruction of my command. I suffered 
 severely from a party of sharpshooters on my left front, who 
 followed me across the field. My only good view of your command 
 was as they were forming just outside the Peach Orchard to come 
 down on me, and I was greatly surprised when Col. B. said there 
 was only a regiment. The line seemed very much too long, and 
 my recollection is that there were a number of regiments forming. 
 I could easily have got through the wall before you struck me, and 
 have reached the high ground in my rear, but was urged to await 
 your assault there at all hazards, and hold the point as long as I 
 could, because there were no troops in my rear, and nothing but 
 my battery remaining to fill up the gap in our lines left by Sickles' 
 Corps. My command suffered, of course, but you were delayed long 
 enough to get the 6th Maine and part of the 5th Massachusetts 
 Batteries in position. For half an hour or more they filled the long 
 gap on the rising ground, front of the wood, opening on you when 
 I stopped firing. 
 
 The horse which you got probably belonged to one of my 
 lieutenants, Erickson, who was killed. My horse, when I fell from 
 him, was wounded at the same time, leaped the wall and went back 
 into our lines. Recovering, I saw our guns coming into position, 
 and your men on my limber chests, shooting my cannoneers, still 
 hard at work, when I gave the order to cease firing and fall back. 
 I was taken over the wall. One of my officers, Whitaker, though 
 mortally wounded, rode up and gave me some whisky. I was then 
 lifted on to my orderly's horse, and slowly taken back into the 
 front of the 6th Maine Battery, while it was firing. 
 
 Besides other projectiles, my command distributed among Ker- 
 shaw's men, who charged from Rose's house toward Round Top, 
 and your own, the very extraordinary number of ninety-two rounds 
 of canister. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 20 1 
 
 While, however, others may have suffered, we were in no way 
 exempt ourselves. Of four officers, two were killed and one 
 wounded. I lost six of seven sergeants, twenty-two men, and 
 eighty out of eighty-eight horses on the battlefield. As I recall the 
 exciting scenes of the late war, they seem like a dream ; but the 
 twinges of broken bones substantiate their reality. No bitterness 
 remains among the people of this section, but all unite in wishing 
 for many returns of our National Centennial as a great united 
 people. May it not be in name only, but in heart as well. 
 I remain very truly, 
 
 JOHN BIGELOW. 
 Late captain of the gth Mass. Battery. 
 
 To Ex-Gov. Humphreys, Vicksburg, Miss." 
 
 The following is the "old stem-winder's" reply: 
 
 "Vicksburg, Miss., Aug. 4, 1876. 
 Dear Sir : — Your esteemed letter of July 13, reached me a few 
 days since. I feel profoundly grateful for the kind notice you have 
 taken of the noble command 1 followed at Gettysburg, and recog- 
 nize the accuracy of your description of our advance. You are 
 doubtless aware that Barksdale and Kershaw moved out together, 
 but when we broke Sickles' line, Barksdale inclined to the left and 
 Kershaw to the right, and when Barksdale emerged from the Peach 
 Orchard, his right flank was on your right flank 200 yards off. 
 I saw at once our peril in leaving you to enfilade our line. 
 I promptly wheeled the 21st Mississippi Volunteers to the right, 
 and charged down on you, and as you were unsupported, my task 
 in silencing and capturing your guns was comparatively easy, but 
 afforded infinite relief to Kershaw's Brigade, with whose sharp- 
 shooters on your left front you were engaged. The 21st Mississippi 
 Regiment captured a battery on the slope in rear of your guns, but 
 was driven off. Wis this battery 'the 6th Maine and part of the 
 5th Mass.' you speak of, and was it commanded by Col. Watson ? 
 Was it Gen. A. A. Humphrey's Division that checked and killed 
 
 13 
 
202 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Barksdale, or was it a line of reinforcements from Culp's Hill ? 
 What troops checked and drove back Kershaw on your left ? 
 
 You well say, my dear sir, 'The exciting scenes of the late war 
 seem like a dream.' I can add, your kind letter is a most pleasant 
 reminder of the 'unpleasantness' that has long since passed away, 
 as between the true soldiers of the North and South, who met in 
 fratricidal strife in the front of battle. They feel they only did 
 their duty, and ask no forgiveness of each other. When the South 
 laid down her arms, if the issues of the war had been submitted to 
 them, amicable relations and cordial peace would long since have 
 existed throughout our borders. But, by the death of Lincoln, our 
 destiny was placed in the hands of a corps of wrangling dema- 
 gogues, who ' vaunteth in war,' but like the war horse of Job, 
 ' paweth in the valley and snuffeth the battle afar off.' Feeding on 
 the feuds of the nation, and fattening on the woes of the South, 
 their ' reconstruction ' has engendered a bitterness that can only 
 be cured by the magnanimity and justice of the North. May it 
 not be long delayed ! And even now I beg to assure you, the 
 soldiers of the South unite with you ' in wishing for many returns of 
 our National Centennial as a united people, not only in name but 
 in heart as well.' 
 
 Please present my kindest regards to Col. Bachelder for his 
 attention to my request, and accept for yourself my sincere 
 respects. Hoping to hear from you again, 
 I am truly yours, 
 
 BEN. G. HUMPHREYS. 
 To Capt. John Bigelow, Boston, Mass." 
 
 It would seem from the foregoing letters that "Old Ben" had 
 one horse too many, and was endeavoring to find the owner. But 
 the charm in this correspondence is the magnanimity that fills 
 alike the hearts of the victor and the vanquished. Capt. Bigelow's 
 orders commanded him to stand, even to the sacrifice of his com- 
 mand, and the brave officer who lost his battery commands equal 
 admiration with the man who captured it. In all the history of 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 2C>3 
 
 that dreadful war, we scarcely remember such carnage as befell 
 Capt. Bigelow's battery, and his heroic command deserved a better 
 fate, though they could not have won greater prestige even in 
 victory. Old Ben, " the old stem-winder," went into the fight with 
 elegant impudence, and comes out of it, as his letter shows, with 
 sublime magnanimity. He rode at the head of the old 21st 
 with the same nonchalance that he offered "to go the gal's 
 security. - ' 
 
 NOTE. GETTYSBURG, JULY 2. 
 
 Among the incidents that filled the closing hours of the 
 day and brought us in connection with other organizations, 
 the iicSth Pennsylvania Regiment has a place. Soon after 
 we commenced firing from our first position, a few sharp- 
 shooters took position on our left, near the edge of the woods, 
 between us and the Wheat Field, and kept actively engaged 
 on our flank, till we were driven to the corner near the house. 
 The historian of the 1 1 St h Pennsylvania Regiment, J. L. 
 Smith of Philadelphia, gives the names of the men as Sergt. 
 Augustus Luker, Sergt. Joseph Turner, Coin. DeWitt Rod- 
 ermel, James J. Donnelly. 
 
 Smith says he saw a cannon shot go through the body of 
 one of the men in or with our Battery. He claims the n 8th 
 assisted by their fire in crowding the 21st Mississippi over on 
 our right flank, and the}- suffered considerably from the fire 
 of the Rebels around Trostle's barn and ward, when they 
 were filing away by the edge of the wood on our left and 
 going to the rear. 
 
 Gen. McLaws (Confederate-) wrote him that any command 
 that faced the 21st .Mississippi may well feel proud, as that 
 
204 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 regiment was the very "flower of Southern chivalry;" (sic) 
 one of its companies had four men pledged to remain always 
 privates, who were worth $4,000,000. The 118th Regiment 
 pride themselves very much on the assistance they rendered 
 us. Strangely enough they were in Gen. Chamberlain's 
 charge that we supported at Petersburg. 
 
 Artillery Headquarters, Army of the Potomac. 
 
 June 21, 1865. 
 Capt. R. S. Milton, gTH Mass. Battery. 
 
 Captain: — I have received your letter of the 5th instant, inform- 
 ing me that your battery was to be mustered out of the service. 
 I regret that it has been decided not to retain any portion of the 
 volunteer field artillery, and that under this decision, yours, and 
 other excellent batteries which have done so much to elevate the 
 character of our arm of the service, and to aid the great cause in 
 which we have all been engaged, must now terminate their public 
 career. Their reputation and what they have done still remain to 
 us, however. To me, the breaking up of this army, and the sepa- 
 ration from those I have long commanded is very painful. I shall, 
 however, long remember them and recall with pleasure the services 
 they have rendered under my orders. 
 
 Amongst the organizations serving under me, the 9th Mass. will 
 be associated, in my mind, with some of the hardest service of the 
 army. Upon first joining under Capt. Bigelow, it went immediately 
 into battle at Gettysburg, and bore a distinguished part, as the 
 reports and its list of killed and wounded, headed by the gallant 
 Erickson, will prove. Its subsequent history is not less glorious, 
 and the history of the campaign and battles of the Army of the 
 Potomac will be incomplete, which does not mention with honor, 
 amongst other batteries which rendered distinguished services, the 
 9th Massachusetts Independent. The record of its battles is 
 made, and not less honorable is its reputation for discipline, 
 instruction, good conduct, and the deportment of its men and 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 2C>5 
 
 officers, under both Bigelow and yourself. I trust that your future 
 may be as successful as your career in this army, and that both 
 officers and men will feel, as they have the right to do — proud of 
 their Battery. 
 
 A pressure for time, as 1 am under orders for distant service, 
 prevents my writing more fully and carefully what I would wish to 
 say of the liattery itself, yet I could not say less as to my own 
 feelings in connection with it. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 (Signed) HENRY J. HUNT, 
 Major General, Chief Artillery, Army of the Potomac. 
 
 A few years after our discharge an attempt was made to 
 form a Battery association, as was the fashion then, and a 
 meeting was called, through the public prints, at John A. 
 Andrew Hall on Washington street. A large number 
 responded, and an organization was started, but owing to 
 discordant elements among the promoters, it failed. 
 
 A few years later, as we began to see that one after 
 another were falling and our number growing less, a few 
 comrades started the 9th Battery Associates, who have met 
 the first Monday of February each year, and spent an even- 
 ing socially together. 
 
 February 7, [870, the first meeting was held. There were 
 sixteen present ; the Associates were organized ; Major John 
 Bigelow was chosen president, and held the office four years, 
 followed by F. C. Tucker, Win. Park, Jr., B. E. Murray, 
 E. A. Noyes, J. V. Huntress, Chas. W. Reed, J. H. Sullivan, 
 and J. K. Norwood. 
 
 February 8, [886, the name was changed to 9th Battery 
 Association ; there were thirty-seven present. 
 
206 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 At the annual meeting of the Associates holden the first 
 Monday of February, 1884, at Young's Hotel, Boston, the 
 matter of a monument at Gettysburg was brought up and 
 discussed. All being in favor of action, a committee of six 
 were chosen to take charge of the matter, as follows : Chas. 
 W. Reed, John K. Norwood, Jos. A. Chapin, Wm. Park, Jr., 
 B. E. Murray and J. Howard Sullivan. They met and organ- 
 ized as follows : Chas. W. Reed, chairman ; J. K. Norwood, 
 treasurer ; J. A. Chapin, secretary ; and issued the follow- 
 ing circular : 
 
 Boston, April 17, 1884. 
 Comrade : 
 
 Dear Sir : — In view of the National importance of the Gettys- 
 burg Battlefield, making it forever historic, and to commemorate the 
 conspicuous service of the 9th Battery, Mass. Vols., it was conceded 
 by all present at the annual reunion, Feb. 4, that we must not be 
 behind the other organizations who have, and are marking their 
 relative positions on this field where the tide of the Rebellion was 
 turned. It was unanimously voted " that we erect a suitable 
 monument of granite and bronze upon the ground held by our 
 Battery during this engagement." 
 
 Voted, " That we raise the sum of One Thousand Dollars for this 
 purpose." 
 
 Voted, "That the 9th Battery Associates compose a committee 
 of the whole to raise this amount." 
 
 looted, " That a Working or Executive Committee of six have the 
 immediate charge of securing the above amount, obtaining designs 
 for said monument, and locating correct sites." 
 
 Major John Bigelow urges this, and starts the subscription with 
 $350. John K. Norwood follows with $100. It is hoped that 
 every man connected with the Battery will take pride in contribut- 
 ing according to his ability to this very worthy object. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 207 
 
 Money subscribed to this fund will be taken charge of by the 
 committee and properly deposited. 
 
 ( hecks may be sent to the order of John K. Norwood, Lawrence, 
 Mass. 
 
 Copies of this circular may be had, or will be mailed to any 
 address on application to 
 
 J. A. CHAPIN, Sec'y, 
 
 106 Franklin St., Boston. 
 
 Boston, Sept. 17, 1S86. 
 
 My Dear Baker 
 
 Comrade and Friend : — In answer to yours of 13th inst., would 
 say, that in October, 1883, I went to Gettysburg with Col. Bach- 
 elder and Carleton Coffin and others to look over the ground 
 where our Battery fought, which I had desired for years, being the 
 only representative of our Battery present. After looking over the 
 ground with the above named, with the addition of Gen. Underwood, 
 we located the position of the Battery practically where afterwards, 
 in May, the committee located or verified it. My first impulse at 
 that time in October, was to put up a neat tablet at a cost of $100 
 or thereabouts, at my own expense ; but after coming home and 
 going to the State House and finding it was settled that at the 
 coming session of Legislature, $500 should be appropriated to each 
 regiment and battery, I changed my purpose and thought the best 
 course was to bring it before the Association at its next meeting in 
 February. At that meeting I explained the matter to the comrades, 
 and the $1,000 was voted to be raised. Having never seen or 
 talked with any of the comrades about the matter, the matter came 
 to a head nicely, as Major Bigelow's letter and check came to hand 
 at that meeting without any concerted action, so far as I know. 
 
 I have just returned home after a week's absence, consequently 
 the delay. I am glad to hear from you, and if I haye not covered 
 the ground fully, please let me know. 
 
 J. K. NORWOOD. 
 
208 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 In 1883, a large excursion went to Gettysburg and with 
 them J. K. Norwood, the only representative of the 9th 
 Battery. Col. Bachelder, the Government historian, in locat- 
 ing the position of the different organizations, had marked 
 our position in Trostle's field so far to the left that it would 
 have been impossible for us to have shelled Rose's barn or 
 done the execution on Kershaw's Brigade that we are reported 
 to have done. Mr. Norwood disputed the location, and 
 placed a stake where he thought the true position was. 
 
 The committee thought that the true position should be 
 found, and accordingly an excursion was arranged by C. W. 
 Reed and J. K. Norwood for the 19th of May, 1884, for five 
 or six days, and the following persons arranged to go, viz. : 
 C. W. Reed, J. K. Norwood, Wm. Park, Jr., Francis M. 
 Shaw, Richard Holland, B. E. Murray, Kendall Norwood, 
 and L. W. Baker, and at Philadelphia Maj. Bigelow joined us. 
 We were delayed, and only reached Carlisle Tuesday even- 
 ing, and Gettysburg Wednesday about 10 A.M. Having 
 already secured the services of Mr. Holtsworth, the well 
 known guide, we started for Spangler's field, where the 
 reserve artillery went in park in the morning of the 2d of 
 July, 1863. Arriving at the house we dismissed our carriage 
 and proceeded on foot to find the field and the spot of our 
 stay there; then followed the way we went to Trostle's 
 field, all of which we identified. 
 
 After stopping at the house and rear of the field, we sepa- 
 rately went up to the cross road, selecting the position of our 
 several guns, there being four represented. Our positions 
 corresponded very well. We were well satisfied that we 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTEKV. 209 
 
 were on the right spot. We had a lunch sent out from town, 
 and bivouacked at the foot of Little Round Top, and enjoyed 
 our dinner. After spending some time in surveying the field 
 and fixing a spot for our monument, we returned to our hotel. 
 
 In the evening we met the officers of The Gettysburg 
 Battlefield Association, and heard their plans, rules, and 
 results they had achieved. We were promised a piece of 
 land twenty by forty feet on the road as a monument site, 
 they to fence it and care for it forever. 
 
 The committee decided to obtain a shaft of Ouincy granite, 
 and a general design was suggested by Maj. Bigelow, C. W. 
 Reed and J. K. Norwood, which was finally adopted. The 
 design was elaborated by C. W. Reed, a well known artist of 
 Boston, and early in the spring of 1885, a contract was made 
 with Boston Marble and Granite Company of Worcester, for 
 a main shaft nine feet high, three by four feet square at base ; 
 one side worked as shown. Also an ammunition chest for 
 the rear of Trostle's field, and stone with an ammunition 
 haversack cut on it to be put on Cemetery Hill. These were 
 all erected in October, 1885, and on the 19th of October a 
 party of our comrades went out with the excursion of Massa- 
 chusetts Veterans of about 175 gentlemen and ladies, repre- 
 senting about thirty-five organizations, and a large number of 
 monuments were dedicated and turned over to the Governor 
 of Massachusetts, through his chief of staff, and by him to 
 the Battlefield committee. Our organization was represented 
 by Maj. Bigelow of Philadelphia, Comrades Reed, Norwood, 
 C. H. Hall and wife of Manchester, John Stowe, Saco, Me., 
 J. II. Sullivan and L. W. Baker. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTEKV. 
 
 21 I 
 
 The location of large shaft is in Trostle's field, at the spot 
 where the left gun was in position beside the road ; the 
 ammunition chest is beside the gateway leading into the field, 
 
 on a large bowlder ; the tablet representing a haversack, is 
 on Cemetery Hill, where two guns of the battery were the 
 third and fourth day. 
 
 A visit to Gettysburg well repays all who were in the 
 engagement, and all students of the history of the great 
 Rebellion. 
 
 As a fitting close of the excursion, the graves of the 
 Massachusetts soldiers were decorated with flowers in the 
 afternoon of the last day. Our only comrades buried there, 
 
212 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 whose graves are marked, are John Crosson and Arthur 
 Murphy. 
 
 ADDRESS OF MAJ. BIGELOW AT DEDICATION OF 
 MONUMENT. 
 
 Comrades: — A score of years have passed since you were 
 soldiers ; the echoes and passions of war have died away ; there 
 are no "Yanks," no "Johnnies," but the charm of your soldier-life, 
 its bonds of friendship and its glorious memories, still linger. 
 
 With depleted ranks you have met today to dedicate three 
 monuments erected to mark the different positions where the 9th 
 Massachusetts Battery, to which you belonged, did heavy fighting 
 and rendered efficient service on this historic field of Gettysburg. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 213 
 
 This massive granite bowlder, bearing the coat-of-arms of Massa- 
 chusetts, and a table of your casualties, marks your first position. 
 
 An "ammunition haversack'" your third. 
 
 On this spot, near the famous Peach Orchard and on the cross 
 road leading from the Emmittsburg road to Little Round Top, 
 which you have marked as your first position, you received your 
 "baptism of fire." 
 
 Here you galloped forward " into battery" under the converging 
 fire of eighteen Confederate guns. Before you could " open," 
 Crosson was killed, and the gallant Erickson was severely wounded. 
 
 Amid the zip of bullets, the whiz of shot, and the explosion of 
 shells, you maintained the steadiness of veterans. Your gunners 
 aimed with coolness and accuracy, and you soon succeeded in 
 silencing the fire of your opponents, exploding several of their 
 limbers. Hardly had you accomplished this work before Ker- 
 shaw's and Semmes' Confederate brigades appeared on your 
 immediate right front, extending from the Peach Orchard parallel 
 with the Emmittsburg road to and around Rose's house. These 
 you shelled heavily. One of your shots, it is said, killed Gen. 
 Semmes, and over one hundred dead bodies left around the Rose 
 buildings again attested the accuracy of your fire. Nothing 
 daunted, however, the Confederate line charged across your front 
 toward Little Round Top on your left. Then, with an enfilading 
 fire and easy range, your double-shotted canister tore through 
 their ranks with terrible effect, until, apparently a mob, they 
 disappeared behind yonder woods. They recognized the attentions 
 you had paid them by immediately sending up against your left 
 front a body of sharpshooters, that followed you as long as a man 
 or a horse remained serviceable. 
 
 At this time Col. McGilvery rode up and ordered the battery to 
 be withdrawn, as Sickles' line at the Peach Orchard had been 
 broken, all of his artillery and infantry had been driven back, and 
 you were left alone on the field. Your position at that moment 
 was indeed critical. If you stopped firing, Kershaw's sharpshooters 
 would quickly empty every saddle • while only two hundred yards 
 on your right, extending to your right and rear, as far as one could 
 
214 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 see, was Barksdale's Confederate brigade, flushed with the victory 
 which their stubborn fighting had won at the Peach Orchard, and 
 preparing to cut you off. You could not " limber up," but, con- 
 necting the trail of your guns to your limbers, with a rope or 
 prolonge, in order to keep your alignment correct, with a slow, 
 sullen fire you allowed the recoil to withdraw your guns, keeping 
 the sharpshooters back with canister, and ricochetting solid shot 
 through the ranks of Barksdale's men. Thus, one thousand yards 
 in advance of our own lines, without infantry support or a single 
 friendly shot from any of our batteries, with the enemy advancing 
 on our front and flank, "by prolonge" you "retired firing" for 
 nearly four hundred yards, until you reached your second position, 
 which you have marked with a monument at the angle of the stone 
 wall which borders this field near Trostle's house. 
 
 It was now six o'clock in the afternoon. So well had you kept 
 the enemy in check, that you might have withdrawn through the 
 narrow gateway in the wall and reached our lines, but Col. 
 McGilvery again came up. He said, except the defence you were 
 making, our lines were entirely open (left by Sickles' Corps) from 
 the foot of Little Round Top to the left of the 2d Corps 
 (Hancock), and he ordered that, at all hazards, you should continue 
 to hold the position you were in, until he could establish a line of 
 artillery behind you. 
 
 What a position then was yours for a light battery ! Your retreat 
 under fire was cut off by the stone wall ; your flanks were exposed 
 (for not an infantryman was near you), and a swell of the ground 
 in your front allowed Barksdale's advancing line to approach 
 within fifty yards. You had already been fighting steadily for two 
 hours and a half, most of the time at close quarters, and had 
 suffered heavy losses. Though delay meant that your sacrifice 
 must be complete, you promptly obeyed the order to " Halt, double 
 shot with canister and lay the contents of your limber chests by 
 your guns for quick work." 
 
 Scarcely were you prepared before the enemy appeared above 
 the swell in your front, and again you were actively engaged, firing 
 canister and cutting the fuses of your case shot and shell so that 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 21$ 
 
 they would explode near the muzzle of your guns. The enemy 
 kept re-forming and charging, but each time your heavy fire 
 repelled them. 
 
 The left section, under Lieut. Milton, by its recoil became entan- 
 gled among some large bowlders and was ordered to be taken out. 
 
 As soon as the fire of Milton's guns ceased, Kershaw's sharp- 
 shooters, being unchecked, quickly came up on your left and 
 poured in a murderous fire. At the same time Barksdale's men 
 (21st Mississippi) came in on your right flank, until finally the very 
 unusual spectacle was witnessed of the enemy standing on your 
 limber chests shooting down the cannoneers who were still serving 
 their guns against those in their front, who continued to rally and 
 charge. 
 
 Such fighting could not last long. Thus surrounded, men and 
 horses were soon shot down and you were finally overcome, but not 
 until the purpose of your sacrifice had been accomplished. 
 
 At 6.30 o'clock, P.M., just as your firing ceased, Col. McGilvery 
 had his second line of artillery ready. This opened heavily and 
 prevented, for three quarters of an hour, the further advance of the 
 enemy at this point of the field. Only at 7.15 o'clock, P.M., were 
 Willard's and a part of Lockwood's brigades brought up, and the 
 long gap in our lines, to which McGilvery referred, filled with 
 infantry. Well may you be proud of those three hours' fighting. 
 
 You expended over three tons of shot and shell, including 
 ninety-two rounds of canister. 
 
 You lost, killed and disabled, eighty of eighty-eight horses taken 
 into action. 
 
 You lost three of your four commissioned officers present ; two, 
 Erickson and Whitaker, being killed. 
 
 You lost six of the seven sergeants on the field ; Dodge and 
 Fenton being killed, and Reed, Baker, Murray and Hirst wounded. 
 Privates Lipman, Nutting, Fen, Gillson, Crosson, Murphy and 
 Packard were killed, and Gunner Hesse, Privates Norwood, 
 Barnard, McCarty, Fisher, McDavitt, Langlier, Downing, Cate, 
 Stowe, Noyes and Brett were wounded, while Dawes and Tobey 
 were taken prisoners. 
 
2l6 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The statistics of the War Department show, I am told, that with 
 the single exception of a batter)' which was captured by a sudden 
 charge at the battle of Iuka, you sustained heavier losses in this 
 engagement than any other light battery suffered in a single 
 engagement during the whole war. 
 
 At the last, when surrounded by the enemy, you were ordered to 
 cease firing and get back to our lines as best you could, your few 
 survivors had to fight their way with hand-spikes and sponge-staffs. 
 
 Private Ligal, you will remember, with his rammer-head brained 
 a Confederate who tried to capture him. 
 
 The four guns, which after this long struggle had finally lost all 
 of their officers, men and horses, were retaken the same evening, 
 returned to you the next day, and afterwards did good service at 
 Kelly's Ford, Culpepper, Mine Run, Spottsylvania, North Anna, 
 Tolopotomy, Bethesda Church, Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, 
 Hatcher's Run, and in many minor engagements, never again 
 leaving your possession until the close of the war. 
 
 Undismayed by your fearful losses of July 2, on the morning of 
 July 3, the guns which Lieut. Milton had brought off from the field 
 were placed in fighting trim. When a call came for assistance in 
 repelling Pickett's charge, you cheerfully responded, and under 
 Milton's command rendered good service on the right centre of our 
 line, at Zeigler's Grove, which is the position of your third monu- 
 ment. 
 
 Comrades, your services on this field were so important that 
 they are imperishably a part of the history of the battle of Gettys- 
 burg. The reputation for reliability and steadiness which you 
 gained here, you afterwards many times confirmed. There was the 
 action of Jericho Ford, the hot Bee Hive at Bethesda Church, 
 Petersburg, where you followed Gen. Chamberlain's (of Maine) 
 gallant charge, dropped your guns " in battery " within two hundred 
 yards of the Confederate entrenchments, and although the infantry 
 were forced back by the fire of a masked battery, and you were for 
 the second time during your military service left alone on the field, 
 you stubbornly held your advanced position until the night fell, 
 when you were relieved. There was the wild gallop across an 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 2\J 
 
 open field under the fire of an hundred Confederate guns to relieve 
 a battery in Fort Rice, and there was the battle of the Weldon 
 Railroad, where after firing to the front for awhile, you were 
 obliged to reverse your guns and fire on the enemy who had gotten 
 around to your rear. 
 
 But I must stop these reminiscences. Yours is a spirited, 
 glorious record, and it is my proudest recollection to have been 
 with you. And I will close my remarks with an extract from a 
 letter written by Gen. Hunt, chief of artillery of the Army of the 
 Potomac, to Capt. Milton at the time of your discharge. He says : 
 " Amongst the organizations serving under me, the 9th Massachu- 
 setts will be associated in my mind with some of the hardest 
 service of the army. Upon first joining, under Capt. Bigelow, it 
 went immediately into battle at Gettysburg, and bore a distinguished 
 part, as the reports, and its list of killed and wounded, headed by 
 the gallant Erickson, will prove. Its subsequent history is not less 
 glorious, and the history of the campaigns and the battles of the 
 Army of the Potomac will be incomplete which does not mention 
 with honor, amongst other batteries which rendered distinguished 
 services, the 9th Massachusetts Independent. The record of its 
 battles is made, and not less honorable is its reputation for 
 discipline, instruction, good conduct and the deportment of its men 
 and officers, under both Bigelow and yourself." 
 
 14 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 219 
 
 LIEUT. CHRISTOPHER ERICKSON. 
 KILLED JULY 2, 1863. 
 
 Christopher Erickson was born in Norway, in the 
 
 year 1835, and came to this country in 1854, at the 
 age of nineteen. Having a taste for military, joined a com- 
 pany of artillery in the State militia as private, and was 
 helped in the commencement of his service by the discipline 
 and drill in the company. He was engaged in the furniture 
 business when the war broke out. During the dark days of 
 '62, he enlisted in the 9th Mass. Battery, was mustered as 
 senior first lieutenant. He took his share of the labors of 
 organizing, and attended to the detail drill in the early days 
 of the organization. He was particularly at home at drill in 
 the field ; of nervous temperament, he was quick to execute 
 orders and lead his section. The horse he rode partook of 
 some of its rider's nervous energy. Riding with short stir- 
 rups, and foot well entered, sitting light, leaning forward, he 
 was the personification of a Centaur, and horse and man 
 seemed to be never tired. 
 
 Lieut. Erickson was a man of high moral character, and 
 his religious life was bright ; others felt its warming influence. 
 He sought to have the Sabbath recognized in the command, 
 and as we had no chaplain, he often led in religious service 
 when in camp. His Bible was his pocket companion, and 
 the much worn volume his son prizes as well. 
 
 On our going into the defences of Washington, November 
 21 and 22, the right section was ordered from Fort Ramsay 
 
220 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 to Fort Buffalo, one half mile beyond ; here he remained in 
 command of this outpost till January 26. When Capt. 
 DeVecchi resigned, he assumed command of the Battery. 
 He encountered some difficulties ; for five weeks he did not 
 know what was in the future : whether the command was to 
 be filled by promotion or from outside the Battery. He took 
 no extra measures to secure the captaincy himself, but 
 exerted himself to keep the men and teams in good condition. 
 The 15th of February he was told by some of the men that if 
 he would prepare a petition to Gov. Andrew for the promo- 
 tion, the men would sign it, and all but three signed one for 
 that purpose. 
 
 March 1, he turned the Battery over to Capt. Bigelow in 
 better shape, both as to discipline and health, than he found 
 it. 
 
 He seconded Capt. Bigelow heartily in all his efforts to 
 improve the Battery and fit it for the field. 
 
 Nothing of note occurred until July 2. I remember seeing 
 him but once on that day ; when we halted in the field near 
 Trostle's house, I saw him ask Capt. Bigelow's permission to 
 go to the line of battle. Both he and Lieut. Milton rode up 
 to it, but were gone but a few minutes. As we filed through 
 the gateway he led the first piece, and in the " Forward into 
 line" he led the section straight up the slope, and put his 
 guns in position under a shower of case shot and shell. 
 
 Capt. Bigelow writes as follows : " Lieut. Erickson was 
 first struck in the chest by a piece of spherical case, shortly 
 after Crosson was killed, and not long after the Battery began 
 firing in its first position. After be was hit, he either came 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 221 
 
 or sent word to me ; I think I saw him. I ordered him to 
 go to the rear and have his wound attended to, which he did ; 
 at least he went back towards Trostle's house, but did not 
 remain long. We were so far in advance of our lines, he 
 probably could not find a hospital. Anyway, he returned 
 and sent word to me that he would again take charge of his 
 section. Supposing his wound to be less serious than at first 
 anticipated, I was glad to again have his assistance, and 
 replied, ' It is all right.' I did not meet him again. While 
 we were retiring by prolonge the officers were attending to 
 the service of their sections ; I was clearing the way and 
 looking after a multitude of details requiring attention." 
 
 R. L. Willis says : " I saw him after he was hit in the 
 body. Bloody froth was in his breath ; he asked me for 
 water, and drank nearly a canteen full." 
 
 He retired with his section, by prolonge to the rear of the 
 field ; both his sergeants were wounded, five men killed, two 
 more wounded; nearly all his horses killed or wounded. 
 His section completely disabled, he saw one of Lieut. Whita- 
 ker's guns up the slope, not having retired so far as the 
 others. He dashed up the slope nearly into the advancing 
 line of Kershaw's skirmishers. 
 
 J. K. Norwood says : " Blaisdell and I were trying to 
 limber up the gun when Lieut. Erickson rode up and asked 
 if he could help us. Just then a bullet crashed through his 
 head, and he fell dead, his horse going into the lines of 
 Barksdale's Division." 
 
 When his body was found, it was robbed of everything but 
 underclothing. 
 
222 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The first shock of battle to any organization which loses 
 heavily, tends to deaden our feeling of personal loss, and it is 
 some time before it comes home to us in its reality; then the 
 changing scenes and the bustle of active operations do not 
 give time to dwell on our losses. Every man in the Battery 
 lost some friend, or some one with whom we came in contact 
 more or less, and our griefs are divided as well as shared by 
 many. 
 
 Lieut. Erickson was a true friend to all the men, and his 
 influence was always for good, and every man mourned his 
 loss. Capt. Bigelow sent for his body, which lies buried in 
 Salem. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 223 
 
 LIEUT. ALEXANDER H. WHITAKER. 
 WOUNDED JULY 2; DIED JULY 23, 1863. 
 
 Lieut. Alexander Howland Whitaker was born in Boston, 
 November 21, 1841. He was educated in Boston's Grammar 
 and High Schools, and at the close of his school life chose 
 the mercantile profession and entered the employ of Iasigi, 
 Goddard & Co., who were in the Mediterranean trade. His 
 aptness as a scholar, and his connection with them, gave him 
 a practical knowledge of French that was of use to hirn in 
 his after connection with Capt. DeVecchi. 
 
 When the war broke out, he was not of age ; he made an 
 attempt to enter the service for nine months, but was 
 unsuccessful. In 1862, under the call for 200,000 men, he 
 was aided in procuring a commission under Capt. DeVecchi, 
 in the 9th Mass. Battery. He at once entered upon the 
 duties of recruiting, and by his business tact, aided very 
 much in early completing the enlistments. His even tem- 
 perament was of great value to the Battery in its early days, 
 as Capt. DeVecchi was very impulsive, and Lieut. Whitaker's 
 cool head restrained him many times. 
 
 He was mustered as first lieutenant, and on the completion 
 of the organization, commanded the left section. His thor- 
 ough business education enabled him to understand the 
 importance of the system called in burlesque "red tape," also 
 routine of army regulations, and saved both Capt. DeVecchi, 
 when he resigned, and Capt. Bigelow, when he assumed 
 command, much trouble. His requirements were reasonable, 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 225 
 
 and he required prompt obedience to all rules ; he bad 
 entered the service for business, and sought to make himself 
 and men most efficient for that service. Mis even, everyday 
 life did not make many incidents of note; a few that the 
 
 writer knows are recorded. 
 
 In June, [863, at Centerville, there was some long-continued 
 punishment of a man in his section that was making some 
 annoyance. A non-commissioned officer, in whose gun detach- 
 ment the man belonged, went to the Captain and interceded 
 for the man, and pledged himself for his good behavior. 
 Lieut. Whitaker reprimanded the officer because he did not 
 come to him first (as he should have done), and on his 
 acknowledging the mistake, he entered heartily into the 
 guarantee, and both Lieut. Whitaker and the sergeant were 
 pledged in the special order of release that was read at dress 
 parade. In a few days the battle of Gettysburg was fought, 
 and the man was faithful at his post. 
 
 I saw much of Lieut. Whitaker during the march to 
 Gettysburg, and his part of the command being the rear of 
 the column, had much harder work to keep their place and 
 closed up, but he brought them up in good condition, losing 
 only one man who was sick when we stalled. 
 
 About 4 P.M., July 2, as we were going to the front, we 
 were halted in a field near Trostle's house, and doubled up. 
 The roar of battle was increasing in our front. Lieuts. 
 Erickson and Milton asked ('apt. Bigelow if they might ride 
 to the front to the line of battle. Capt. Bigelow, bowing 
 assent, turned to Lieut. Whitaker, who sat beside him, and 
 said, " I think they will see enough before nisrht." 
 
226 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Soon the order came, " Forward," and we filed into the 
 field, and he led his section into a position that was swept by 
 the enemy's artillery. One of his sergeants was wounded at 
 first, and was told by Lieut. Whitaker to go and take care of 
 himself ; but he chose to remain, as he was not disabled, and 
 fight his gun. 
 
 Lieut. Whitaker directed the firing coolly, and with good 
 effect. During the shelling of Rose's buildings to dislodge 
 the skirmishers, he thought the shells were not bursting- 
 quick enough, and ordered the fuse cut to one and one half 
 seconds. One of the gunners answered, " It will burst before 
 it is half way there," but it was cut as ordered, and the effect 
 satisfied him that the gunner of the sixth gun knew his 
 business ; and soon after, when the sixth sergeant was hit the 
 second time and disabled, the gun still held its place in line, 
 and sent its share of case shot and shell into the enemy's 
 ranks. 
 
 At about this time, he had lost both sergeants, one gunner, 
 two men, and several horses, and as the Battery retired by 
 prolonge to the rear of the field, his right flank was attacked 
 by the 21st Mississippi Regiment. His right gun lost all its 
 horses and had to be abandoned ; the next gun was over- 
 turned near the gateway, where our monument of an ammu- 
 nition chest is now standing, and according to a letter written 
 July 30, 1863, by F. C. Tucker, gunner of the sixth gun, 
 "at about this time Lieut. Whitaker was wounded." 
 
 Capt. Bigelow writes as follows : " While I was being taken 
 to the rear, Lieut. Whitaker rode up to me, said he was 
 wounded in the knee, and offered me his whisky flask. I 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 227 
 
 took three small swallows (all that I took in the service), 
 which strengthened me very much. 1 told him to remain 
 with me, and we would look out for each other. The Con- 
 federates were shelling the road along which we were passing, 
 and I could lie moved only at a snail's -ait ; he probably got 
 nervous and allowed his horse to trot. I thought it was too 
 had to stop him, and he disappeared. The next clay, 3d, 
 riding on a small mule led by Barry, I was, under the heavy 
 shelling, visiting, as best I could, the different hospitals 
 trying to find him, hut failed to do so." 
 
 Up to the time of Wednesday, Jul}' 8, we do not know 
 about him ; hut the 9th, one of his wounded sergeants, heard 
 of a 9th Battery officer in a hospital near by at Baltimore. 
 He found him badly wounded in the knee and very feverish ; 
 his servant was there with him, and at his request, I sought 
 and found a brother Mason and sent to him. Soon the train 
 was read\- and I journeyed on to hospital at Newark. 
 
 His brother writes me as follows: "What follows up to 
 Gettysburg, of course you know better than I. Wounded 
 then, I did not hear from him for nearly a week, when he 
 telegraphed to me from West's Hospital, Baltimore, where I 
 found him wounded in the knee. I brought him home as 
 soon as possible, hut he lived only one day after his return, 
 dying on the 23d of July, [863." He was buried at Forest 
 Hill Cemetery. 
 
 Capt. Bigelow writes: "Lieut. Whitaker was taken from 
 Baltimore in a special tug by the inland route to Boston. 
 When he arrived, Dr. Bigelow was sent for, and said an 
 amputation would he necessary. He made several incisions, 
 
228 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 but found that the suppuration had worked up into his body, 
 and his life could not be saved. It seems that an examina- 
 tion had not been properly made, or it would have been found 
 that the knee joint had been shattered ; besides, because it 
 was more comfortable, the surgeons had allowed the limb to 
 be swung up. Whe'n I got back, I was called upon to make a 
 report about the officers lost, and said, ' Whitaker died from 
 bad treatment at the hands of army surgeons.' This caused, 
 of course, a great breeze, and considerable correspondence 
 ensued, but without result. Probably the active campaign, 
 and perhaps the loss of some papers was the cause." 
 This correspondence was about September 26, 1863. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 229 
 
 SERGT. CHARLES E. DODGE. 
 KILLED JULY 2, 1863. 
 
 Sergeant Charles E. Dodge was born in Bridgeton, Me., in 
 [837. He passed his childhood and youth much as others in 
 a country town, improving his school terms of probably about 
 eighteen weeks a year to the best advantage, and in [856, at 
 
 the age of nineteen, came to Boston, where he was clerk in a 
 grocery store for some time. But, feeling that this business 
 was not for him, he went to Virginia and engaged in Lumber- 
 ing operations, and the year [86l found him there, a Union 
 man in a secession State. His known character and loyalty 
 to the Union could not be endured by the secession element, 
 and he fled for his life, escaping on an oyster vessel. He 
 soon arrived home in Boston. Feeling that Ids country 
 needed his services, enlisted in the 9th Mass. Battery, and at 
 once entered upon the duties and education necessary to 
 make him an efficient soldier. He was from the first more 
 intimate with Lieut. Erickson than others, and the friendship 
 continued through their lives, both being men of principle 
 and high character. 
 
 At the organization of the Battery, he was appointed 
 sergeant, and assigned to the second gun from the right in 
 the first section, that of Erickson. lie at once had the 
 confidence of the men under him. He diligently set to work 
 to fit himself and them for their several duties, and his 
 detachment was always well drilled and well taken care of. 
 He was not of a fiery, dashing nature; he did not anticipate 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 23 I 
 
 orders, but was prompt to execute. He was a good rider, 
 and on the drill ground always led his detachment. I well 
 remember at Upton's Hill, on drill, his horse turned the 
 
 guard of the curb bit upon Ins nose, and ran across the hold, 
 unmanageable; he coolly kept his seat and gave him the rein 
 till it turned back, when he brought him under control and 
 resumed his place. 
 
 He had full sympathy with any one sick, or homesick; in 
 sorrow or trouble of any kind. Kind words had he forthose, 
 when others jeered. I )l kindly nature, trusted and respected 
 by all, and loved by many. During the dark days at Upton's 
 Hill, he was one of the sergeants to be relied on, and punish- 
 ments were rare in his detachment. 
 
 During the battle at Gettysburg, his was the fourth gun 
 from the right, and was well served, keeping its place in line 
 despite his losses, and retiring by prolonge with the Battery 
 in the face of Kershaw's skirmishers. lie lost all his horses 
 by the charge of Humphrey's 21st Mississippi, and was shot 
 at the same time, between 6 and 7 P.M., July 2, 1863. 
 
 His remains were brought home and were buried under 
 arms in Bridgeton, where a neat marble tablet marks his 
 resting place, where 
 
 " No braying horns or screaming fifes 
 At morn shall wake him more." 
 
 It bears the Massachusetts coat-of-arms, a piece of artillery, 
 stand of cannon balls, and is a fitting tribute to his memory. 
 
 In losing him the Hatter)- lost one of its most promising 
 warrant officers. 
 
232 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
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NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 233 
 
 This company was recruited chiefly at Camp Meigs, Readville, 
 though for a portion of the time it was encamped at Camp Stanton, 
 Lynnfield. It left the Commonwealth for Washington, September 
 3, 1862, and arrived at that city on the 7th, when they reported to 
 Gen. Casey, in command, and were ordered to Camp Seymour on 
 Capitol Hill, D. C. My report of last year brought the narrative 
 of the Battery up to November 18, 1862. The following is its 
 record from that date to December 13, 1863, at which time it was 
 at Brandy Station, Virginia. 
 
 November 19, 1862. Moved from Camp Barry, Bladensburg 
 toll gate, to Hall's Hill, Va. 20th. Right section, under command 
 of Lieut. Erickson, moved to Fort Ramsay, Upton's Hill, Va. 
 21st. Remainder of the Battery moved to Fort Ramsay, and the 
 right section was ordered to Fort Buffalo, one mile from Fort 
 Ramsay. 
 
 December 28. Moved in the night to Annandale ; remained in 
 battery until the evening of the 29th, when it returned to Fort 
 Ramsay. 
 
 The Battery has been engaged with the enemy during the late 
 campaigns only at the battle of Gettysburg. On the afternoon 
 of the 2d of July it assisted in supporting the 3d Corps, Gen. 
 Sickles commanding. When the Corps was obliged to fall back, 
 the Battery was the last of five batteries to leave its position, and 
 retired 400 yards, firing by prolonge at a Rebel brigade advancing 
 on its right front, and skirmishers on its front. Arriving at a point 
 where two stone walls met at an obtuse angle, it was ordered to 
 halt and hold the position at all hazards, until a new line of 
 batteries could be placed covering the point. While doing so, 
 without infantry support, it was charged by the Rebel brigade 
 before mentioned, which had secured a near approach by an 
 inequality of the ground. Canister could be brought to bear only 
 on the centre of the Rebel line, while its wings, comparatively 
 unhurt, closed in on either flank. 
 
 After suffering the losses enumerated in the following table, with 
 fifty horses killed, the enemy firing from our limber chests, and the 
 exit through the stone wall blocked up with dead animals, the 
 
234 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 command was ordered to fall back, and necessarily left four of its 
 pieces on the field (horses being killed). Covered, however, by 
 the efficient fire of the 5th Massachusetts Battery, Capt. Phillips, 
 the guns were all afterward secured. 
 
 July 3 and 4, the Battery, having but one of its officers and one 
 of its sergeants fit for duty, was lightly engaged on Cemetery Hill, 
 losing five horses. 
 
 Number killed, wounded and missing, July 2, 1862 : 
 
 Commissioned officers, killed, or died from wounds, 
 Enlisted men, killed, or died from wounds, 
 Commissioned officer, wounded, 
 Enlisted men, wounded, ..... 
 Enlisted men taken prisoners, since returned, 
 
 Total, killed, wounded and prisoners, 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 1 
 
 x 5 
 2 
 
 29 
 
 Until June 24, 1863, the Battery was attached to Abercrombie's 
 Division, 22d Army Corps, since which time to the 1st Volunteer 
 Brigade, Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac. 
 
 Total killed in action or from wounds received from August 10, 
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 Commissioned officers killed, 
 
 Enlisted men killed, 
 
 Commissioned officer wounded 
 
 Enlisted men wounded, . 
 
 Missing (but since returned) 
 
 Died of disease, 
 
 Discharged by order, 
 
 Discharged for disability, 
 
 Dropped by order, . 
 
 Deserted, 
 
 Resigned, 
 
 Commissioned officers gained by appointment, 
 
 Commissioned officers gained by promotion, 
 
 Recruits gained, ..... 
 
 2 
 
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 1 
 
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 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 17 
 
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NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY, 
 
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NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 237 
 
 • After the engagement of the battle of Gettysburg, the Battery 
 continued with the Army of the Potomac through all its marches 
 until December 13, when it went into winter quarters with the 
 artillery reserve of the army near Brandy Station, Va. 
 
 February 14, 1864. Capt. Bigelow was placed on detached duty, 
 commanding 2d Volunteer Brigade, Artillery Reserve, and Lieut. 
 R. S. Milton assumed command of the Battery. Capt. Bigelow 
 was relieved April 12. 
 
 May 4. The Battery broke camp at Brandy Station, and crossed 
 the Rapidan River at Ely's Ford. During the battles of the Wil- 
 derness, the command was not actively engaged, but was continually 
 in position, covering the reserve camp and the army trains, losing 
 but one man wounded. 
 
 May 16. It rejoined the reserve from which it was temporarily 
 detached, at Aldrich's Crossroads, in anticipation of a cavalry raid 
 at Fredericksburg, Va. 
 
 May 17. Agreeable to orders from headquarters Army of the 
 Potomac, the command was reduced from six to four guns, in 
 common with all the light batteries of the army, and reported to 
 the artillery brigade, 5th Army Corps, near Spottsylvania Court 
 House, the same day. 
 
 May 18. Was in position near the Anderson House. 
 
 May 19 and 20. Occupied works before Spottsylvania Court 
 House, but did not, however, engage the enemy. 
 
 May 21. Was withdrawn from position and crossed the Matta- 
 pony River near Guiness Station, the same day. 
 
 May 22. Accompanied the 1st Division, which had the ad- 
 vance of the corps, to the North Anna River. On the 23d, crossed 
 the North Anna, near Jericho's Ford, and was engaged in the 
 action of that place, having one corporal killed. Remained in 
 position until the 25th, and recrossed on the 26th, at Quarrel's 
 Ford. 
 
 May 27. Again resumed the march, crossing the Pamunky 
 River. May 28. Near Hanover Town. May 30. Crossed Tolo- 
 potomy Creek, and was in the action at that place, near the cen- 
 tre of the corps line. May 31. Advanced and was in position near 
 
238 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Bethesda Church. June 2. Was placed in position with Crawford's 
 3d Division, on the Mechanicsville road, where it kept silent an 
 enemy's battery that enfiladed our line. June 5. Was withdrawn, 
 and moved to Cold Harbor during the night. June n. Started 
 for Wilcox Landing, the corps covering the movement of the army 
 to that place. Reached the landing June 13. Crossed the James 
 River, June 16, and reached the vicinity of Petersburg, Va., (by a 
 night march,) on the 17th. June 18. The Battery engaged the 
 enemy near the Avery House, on the Baxter road, while the corps 
 line was being advanced. At 4 P.M., followed Chamberlain's 
 Brigade, 1st Division, and Hoffman's Brigade, 4th Division, on 
 the charge of the corps, to within 480 yards of the enemy's inner 
 line of works, and silenced a battery that had canister range 
 on our lines as they continued to advance. Retained the position 
 secured after the charge failed, and the line withdrew. Occupied 
 it the 19th and 20th, each day being engaged with the enemy. 
 On the 18th, lost a sergeant and corporal killed, and five men 
 wounded. 
 
 June 21. Was assigned to the 3d Division, 5th Corps, and on 
 the 24th was placed in position in a small redoubt on the Jerusa- 
 lem plank road. Did not engage the enemy from the position, as 
 a heavy working detail was employed throwing up Fort Davis, 
 (named after late Colonel Davis, 39th Regiment, Massachusetts 
 Volunteers,) immediately in rear of the position. July 8. Had 
 one man seriously wounded by spherical case. July 12. Occupied 
 Fort Davis, covering the ground to the left of the plank road, and 
 was not actively engaged. 
 
 August 10. Captain Bigelow received a leave of absence on 
 account of sickness, and Lieut. R. S. Milton assumed the com- 
 mand. August 14. Was relieved from position at Fort Davis. 
 
 August 18. With Crawford's Division marched to the Weldon 
 Railroad. Was placed in position between the 2d and 3d Divi- 
 sions, and became heavily engaged at 3 o'clock, P.M., losing, 
 however, only one man wounded. Strengthened the position 
 during the night. On the 19th, assisted in repelling two attacks 
 
NIXTII MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 
 
 '■39 
 
 (about 10 A.M., and 4 P.M.). On the 21st, the line was heavily 
 attacked, and the Battery engaged about three hours. 
 
 Sept. 2. Accompanied 3d Division, 5th Army Corps, and 
 Gregg's Cavalry, on a reconnoissance toward the South Side Rail- 
 road. September 3. Was placed in position in Fort Duchesne. 
 
 September 30 and October 1. Accompanied the corps to 
 Preble's Farm, but was not engaged, as the nature of the ground 
 prevented the use of artillery. October 2. Returned to Fort 
 Duchesne. October 6. Relieved the nth Massachusetts Bat- 
 tery, Capt. Jones, at Fort Howard. 
 
 October 27. Accompanied 3d Division to Hatcher's Run, and 
 was in position at Armstrong's Mill, covering the withdrawal of the 
 2d Corps across the run. October 28. Returned to camp near 
 the Yellow House, Weldon Railroad. 
 
 December 2. Was assigned to Avers 2d Division, 5th Army 
 Corps. December 7. Moved with the division to Nottowav 
 River. December 8. Crossed the river and marched, via Sussex 
 Court House and Coman's Well, to Chambliss Farm. December 
 9. Moved to Hicksford's Ford, the division being engaged in 
 destroying the railroad. December 10. Returned to Sussex Court 
 House. December 11. Re-crossed the Nottoway River. Decem- 
 ber 12. Returned to near the Yellow House, Weldon Railroad, 
 and reported to artillery brigade, where Capt. Bigelow resumed 
 command. December 18. Commenced building winter quarters 
 near the Red House, and, December 19, was placed in position 
 in Fort Rice. 
 
 In conclusion, the Mattery which was reduced to four guns, May 
 17, was again increased to six, October 2S. Notwithstanding the 
 severity of the campaign during the past season, in all of which the 
 command has been a sharer, it has continued uniformly healthy, 
 losing none by disease. The recruits, of whom a large number have 
 been received, are generally well fitted for the duties required of 
 them as artillerists. The command has ever rendered cheerful 
 obedience to its officers, and it is hoped its record will receive the 
 approval of the commander-in-chief. 
 
240 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 
 
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NINTH M \.SSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 24I 
 
 The 9th Battery took part in the following engagements previous 
 to Dec. 13, 1864 : — 
 
 Gettysburg, Mine Run, Spottsvlvania, North Anna, Tolopotomy, 
 Bethesda Church, Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, Hatcher's Run. 
 
 My last annual report brought the history of the Battery to 
 December 13, 1864. The following is what followed to the date of 
 discharge : — 
 
 December 13, 1864. The Battery, upon its return from the raid 
 of the 5th Army Corps, which it accompanied to the Weldon Rail- 
 road, was ordered into winter quarters near the Red House to 
 which place it moved December 19, and same day the pieces were 
 ordered into position at Fort Rice, on the 9th Corps line, in front of 
 Petersburg. December 22. While here, Capt. John Bigelow, then 
 commanding the Battery, was promoted to the brevet rank of major 
 for meritorious service in the battles before Yorktown, Fredericks- 
 burg, and Gettysburg, and the engagements attending the advance 
 of the Army of the Potomac, from Brandy Station to Petersburg. 
 
 December 25. Second Lieut. George H. Prescott was dis- 
 charged on account of sickness, and under the same order, (Special 
 Orders, No. 450, A. G. O.,) Brevet Major John Bigelow. was honor- 
 ably discharged at his own request, his health not admitting of his 
 remaining in the service without the danger of permanent dis- 
 ability. He gave up the command of the Battery December 
 30, and all connection with the same the following day. The 
 resignation of Brevet Major Bigelow occasioned a loss to the ser- 
 vice of an experienced and zealous officer, while the members of 
 the Battery experienced the withdrawal of a kind and humane 
 commander. The Battery was withdrawn from position in Fort 
 Rice, December 25, and moved to the camp of the caissons then 
 in permanent winter quarters. 
 
 January 1, 1865. First Lieut. R. S. Milton was promoted to 
 captain, vice John Bigelow, honorably discharged, nth. First 
 Sergt. George Murray discharged to enable him to accept of pro- 
 motion to second lieutenant, vice George H. Prescott, dis- 
 charged; the same to date from January 7. 16th. Second Lieut. 
 James W. Reed, Jr., honorably discharged. 22d. The Battery 
 
242 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 moved into position in Fort Rice. 27th. George Booth appointed 
 from civil life, as second lieutenant, vice J. VY. Reed, Jr., dis- 
 charged. Second Lieut. George Murray discharged to enable him 
 to accept of promotion as first lieutenant, vice R. S. Milton, 
 promoted. George Booth appointed from civil life, mustered as 
 second lieutenant, vice Murray, promoted. 
 
 February 4. The Battery was relieved from position in Fort 
 Rice, and the following day, under command of Lieut. George 
 W. Foster, accompanied the 5th Army Corps to Hatcher's Run. 
 While there, they were not actively engaged, although the contin- 
 ued severe inclemency of the weather made the raids an arduous 
 undertaking. It returned from Hatcher's Run, February 10. 23d. 
 A portion of Battery A, 1st Volunteer Light Artillery, (Capt. 
 McCartney,) reported for duty to the Battery, under instructions 
 from the War Department, and the final consolidation was effected 
 March 11, 1865. 
 
 March 4. The Battery moved to Fort Rice, and remained there 
 until March 27, at which time it was relieved, and reported for 
 duty in the Artillery Brigade, 9th Army Corps, General Tidball 
 commanding. In the final assault and surrender of Petersburg, the 
 Battery was actively engaged during the 1st and 2d, and night of 
 the 1 st of April, meeting with no casualties in either day's engage- 
 ment. 
 
 April 3. After turning in one section to the Ordnance Depart- 
 ment, the Battery accompanied the 9th Corps to Nottoway Court 
 House, where it remained about a fortnight. The Battery com- 
 menced its march on the return to City Point, April 22, passing 
 over the same route traversed in reaching Nottoway Court House, 
 passing through Petersburg, Wellville, Ford's Station, etc., arriving 
 at City Point April 23, and was immediately assigned to the 
 Artillery Reserve of the Army of the Potomac, with all batteries 
 not permanently assigned to corps. 27. Second Lieut. William 
 Park, Jr., detailed as adjutant general of the 3d Brigade of the 
 reserve, under Brevet Major Phillips. Soon after, the Battery 
 moved near to Washington, preparatory to being mustered out, 
 passing through Fredericksburg and Richmond. 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 243 
 
 Under provisions of instructions from the War Department, per- 
 mitting all volunteer batteries to be mustered out in their respec- 
 tive States, the organization left Washington, June 1, en route for 
 Massachusetts, where it arrived June 3, and immediately pro- 
 ceeded to Galloup's Island, Boston Harbor, to await mustering out. 
 
 On the arrival of the Battery at the island, owing to some slight 
 disturbance between some of the men and the provost guards on 
 duty there, private R. J. Isaacs was shot by the officer of the day, 
 killing him instantly. The investigation of the case ruled that the 
 officer was in the performance of his duty, and could not be guilty 
 of murder. 
 
 After two years and ten months' service the Battery was mustered 
 out June 6, by Capt. A. R. Kroutinger, U. S. A. ; but the men were 
 not finally disbanded and paid off until June 9, at which date 
 they left the island. 
 
 In closing the report, I have the honor to testify to the uniform 
 good conduct, willing obedience and military bearing of the men 
 composing my command, and trust that their record maybe accept- 
 able and honorable to the State from which they were willing 
 volunteers. 
 
 The following is the muster roll of the Company, contain- 
 ing the names <>1 all who were ever mustered in. The 
 adjutant general's report gives a low more names as being 
 enlisted, but they never joined the Battery. In this roll I 
 have given name, rank, date of muster, place of enlistment, 
 date and cause of discharge, with such notes as may complete 
 their military record. 
 
244 
 
 HfSTORY OF THE 
 
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NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 
 
 245 
 
 At Petersburg. 
 North Anna River. 
 Transferred from 1st Mass. lot- 
 tery, Feb. 28. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 On duty at Headquarters Mid- 
 dle Military Department. 
 
 Private to Feb. 21, 1863 ; Corp 
 to Mar. 30, 1864, then made 
 
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 April 26, 1865. 
 
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 Albert Taylor. 
 John H. Sullivan. 
 John R. Martin. 
 William L. Tucker. 
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 John W. Lord.' 
 Francis C. Tucker. 
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 Lucien Sanderson. 
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 Charles S. Edwards. 
 Daniel Benham. 
 John A. Jakes. 
 Nicholas G. Lynch. 
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 Frank U. Smith. 
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 William Stahl. 
 Adolphus Schirnier. 
 George W. Stafford. 
 Charles A. Tibbetts. 
 Samuel Tobey. 
 ICugene Tufts. 
 Warren H. Trask. 
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 Thomas Tuttle. 
 Jeremiah Tenney. 
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.APPENDIX. 
 
 FEBRUARY 6, 1888. 
 
 The eighteenth annual reunion of the 9th Battery Associa- 
 tion met at Young's Hotel. There were present 
 ' ' as follows : Maj. John Bigelow, Capt. R. S. Mil- 
 
 ton, Lieut. Wm. Park. J. K. Norwood, Nelson Lowell, E. B. 
 Lord, Q. A. Merritt, David Brett, C. W. Reed, Eleazer Cole, 
 J. R. Brown, S. B. Curtis, Geo. H. Ransom, J. F. Dalton, I ). I. 
 Harmon, R. Holland, J. R. Stowe, J. II. Sullivan, J. F. Eaton, 
 Edwin Rolitho, F. M. Shaw. A. R Smith, R. L. Willis, J. H. 
 Whittemore, Thos. Murphy, 1). P. Doyle, W. H. Strong, !•'. ('. 
 Smith, Albert Taylor and* L. W. Raker; total, 30. Also there 
 were seven of our sons present, viz. : K. S. Norwood, W. E. 
 Park, C. F. Cole, E. C. Raker, F. C. Erickson, H. S. Whitte- 
 more, S. 11. Whittemore, and F. W. Filloon, a grandson of 
 David Brett. The invited guests were C. C. Coffin, the war 
 correspondent ami historian ; Ebenezer Alexander, half broth- 
 er of Lieut. A. H. Whitaker ; Jas. H. Croft. President of the 
 Gettysburg Pilgrims; I-'. B. Stuart and F. E. hark, two 
 musicians, and two reporters. 
 
254 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 At the business meeting, J. K. Norwood was chosen presi- 
 dent, F. M. Shaw, vice president ; Wm. Park, secretary and 
 treasurer ; supper committee, the president and J. H. Sulli- 
 van. Wm. Park and J. H. Sullivan were made committee on 
 resolutions in memory of the dead of the year, also to send 
 letter to B. E. Murray who was not able to be present. 
 
 The sons of the comrades were made associate members of 
 the Association. At 6 P.M., supper was announced, and the 
 well remembered assembly was blown by C. W. Reed, and 
 we marched to the supper room. While standing at the 
 tables, Maj. Bigelow entered, escorted by the president. He 
 was received by three times three and tiger. 
 
 At 8 o'clock, the president rapped to order, and in a short 
 address, welcomed the comrades and sons and guests, and 
 called on Maj. Bigelow, who said : 
 
 Comrades, Sons of Comrades, and Friends : — 
 
 Many years have passed since we were soldiers. We have now 
 forgotten the arts of war, but not its memories. Bonds of friend- 
 ship, forged on battlefields, have assembled us together this 
 evening; memories and friendships which cluster around the name 
 of the 9th Massachusetts Light Battery. 
 
 Twenty-five years ago this month, I was appointed to its command. 
 I found it stationed within the earthworks of Washington, and you, 
 its members, untried soldiers. I left you, after nearly two years' 
 service, in the earthworks before Petersburg, veterans indeed. 
 
 The many amusing incidents, which, for the first few months, 
 attended the establishment of strict discipline, and the enforcement 
 of a prompt obedience to orders, you will probably recall. Recall, 
 too, please, the result, viz. : the record made at Gettysburg, and on 
 every other battlefield of the Army of the Potomac, until the close 
 of the war. Officers have said to me that, if at Gettysburg you had 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 255 
 
 been old soldiers, you never could have been held together for so 
 long a time, so far in advance of our lines, in an open field, without 
 supports, and suffering such fearful losses. I replied that you were 
 always equally reliable. 
 
 That Gettysburg was duplicated at Petersburg, where you fol- 
 lowed up Gen. Chamberlain's infantry charge until within 200 
 yards of the Confederate works, dropped your guns "in battery," 
 and though the "charge'' was repulsed and you were again left 
 alone on the field, you held your advanced position, amid a hail- 
 Storm of bullets, for an hour and a half, until nightfall, when our 
 infantry again advanced and you were relieved. 
 
 You were soldiers from a patriotic sense of duty. Army food, 
 camp routine, the exposure and fatigues of the march, and the 
 dangers of the battlefield you bore patiently, cheerfully. You were 
 more anxious about the dangers that threatened your country, than 
 those which surrounded yourselves. The great majority of your 
 number were New Englanders, to the manor born ; liberal in 
 thought and of high moral courage. To illustrate : 
 
 Many of you will recollect that, when I joined the Battery, I 
 brought a colored servant with me, and how, within a few clays 
 after reaching camp, he was prostrated with fever. At evening 
 roll call volunteer nurses were asked for, when nearly every man 
 offered his services. For a week the boy lay insensible, and yet 
 your chosen representatives as tenderly watched over and cared 
 for him as if he had been one of your own number ; they adminis- 
 tered his medicines every hour, night and day ; checked all noises 
 which might disturb the invalid, and finally restored him to perfect 
 health. It has been truly said, " The tenderest are the bravest." 
 One of those nurses who, from a sense of duty, had the moral 
 courage to thus rise superior to his prejudices, at Gettysburg had 
 his horse's head shot away by a cannon ball ; he freed himself, "cut 
 the dead animal loose," and then coolly mounted another, which in 
 turn was soon shot, as were all of the others attached to his piece. 
 He then joined the only cannoneer left with the piece, unhurt, and 
 remained fighting it until he himself was well nigh fatally wounded. 
 That man, of such great physical and moral courage, whom 1 have 
 
256 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 selected as representing you all, is your worthy president of this 
 evening, and his name is John K. Norwood. 
 
 I know too well the horrors of war to stand here as its apologist- 
 Still I am sure you will agree with me, that a soldier's life, with its 
 comradeship in weal and woe, with its self-sacrifices, made from a 
 sense of patriotism or of duty, with its sudden changes from quiet 
 and safety to that of thrilling excitement and danger, has a charm 
 all its own. To the soldier the names inscribed on the battle flags, 
 whether of friend or foe, mean something more than the victories 
 or defeats of a fratricidal war, as sentimentalists of today would 
 have us believe. They indicate fields on which all of the highest 
 qualities and attributes of physical manhood have been tested, and 
 not found wanting — qualities and attributes on which, in the future 
 as in the past, in every great emergency, when the court of final 
 appeal is reached, the safety of our homes, our liberties, our 
 national honor and our country depends. 
 
 Comrades, I am not unmindful that you have, or should have, 
 present with you this evening, many members of the 1st Mass. 
 Light Battery, received by transfer at the time of the expiration of 
 service of their own command, early in 1865. That Battery began 
 its service with the war and took an active and prominent part on 
 every battlefield of the Army of the Potomac, up to and including 
 Petersburg. I felt that you were highly honored, when informed 
 by Capt. McCartney of the choice of transfer, which his veterans 
 had made. I was with them on the Peninsula, and I saw them at 
 the battle of Fredericksburg. I know their mettle, although they 
 joined you after I had resigned the command. I hope they will 
 always attend these reunions and feel that they are ever welcome. 
 
 And what shall I say to you of the labor of love which Sergt. 
 Baker has brought to completion and now presents to you as the 
 History of the 9th Mass. Battery, illustrated by the skilful pencils 
 of Reed and Holland. Within its pages you will not find experi- 
 ences differing from those of any other command that saw hard 
 service ; but they will be experiences that are personal and of 
 special interest to yourselves and your children. The sergeant's 
 labor has been one of love and not for profit. I know the pleasure 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 257 
 
 which he has felt, when he has had occasion to give honorable 
 mention to any of your names. I know the patience with which 
 he has sought after facts, and I know, too, that his most satisfactory 
 reward will be to feel that he has done justice to his subject and 
 met your expectations. Let us extend to him our sincere congrat- 
 ulations and our hearty thanks. 
 
 Comrades, it is a long while since we have had a roll call. I need 
 but to mention to you the names of the enthusiastic Erickson and 
 the brave Whitaker, of Sergts. Dodge, Fenton and Dawes, of 
 Corps. Lincoln and Sanderson, besides the many without "straps" 
 and without "stripes," all of whom were taken from you on the 
 battlefield, to awake an echoing response in every heart. 
 
 There, too, were the much loved Milton, who succeeded me as 
 your captain, the impulsive Foster, the faithful Park, the patriotic 
 Booth, the energetic Murray, and First Sergt. Baker, ever thought- 
 ful of your welfare. 
 
 There was the whole line of sergeants, gunners and corporals, 
 many of them bullet scarred, all good fellows and true. 
 
 There was Reed, who communicated every order to you, from 
 early morning until "taps" at night. 
 
 There was Pearce, who looked after the correctness of your 
 " details " and kept your records. 
 
 And last of all, there were your worthy selves, always prompt to 
 every call of duty; all heroes, of whose record the State of Massa- 
 chusetts may well be proud. While memory fondly recalls the 
 names of those for whom 
 
 "The muffled drum's sad roll has beat 
 The soldier's last tattoo,'' 
 
 and of those, with us in spirit, who are kept away by disability or 
 by distance. 
 
 Let us congratulate ourselves that, notwithstanding the vicissi- 
 tudes of twenty-five eventful years, so many of our number are 
 permitted to assemble here this evening. 
 
 Let us also extend a cordial greeting to our friends who are witli 
 
258 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 To him who represents the Commonwealth in its legislative 
 branches. Having been an unruly member myself, I can sympa- 
 thize with him in his onerous duties. 
 
 To him who, an old soldier now, by his energy and ability keeps 
 the Globe a-rolling, gauging its speed by the popular pulse, and 
 
 To him who, a chronicler of the war, has devoted his life work 
 to his country's history, prepared for the rising generation and 
 calculated to quicken in them feelings of patriotism. 
 
 May these annual reunions long continue, and may your sons, 
 whom I am glad to see present on this occasion, ever preserve 
 their interest and eventually act as our successors in keeping alive 
 the memories of our Battery. 
 
 Finally, comrades, when we read the " History " which Sergt. 
 Baker has prepared, let each one, whether officer or enlisted man, 
 feel that he acted well his part and 
 
 " There all the honor lies." 
 
 At the close of the address he was presented with a beau- 
 tiful water color painting by the well known artist, C. W. 
 Reed, showing the final struggle in Trostle's field with part 
 of Kershaw's and Barksdale's Brigades. The sketch was 
 over two years in preparation, and has had the criticism and 
 suuirestions of a large number of the comrades who were in 
 the engagement, and is credited with being the nearest to 
 the truth of anything on canvas. 
 
 The historian, C. C. Coffin, was next introduced, who said : 
 
 Mr. President: — My first acquaintance with the 9th Mass. Bat- 
 tery was on July 2, 1863, a short time before the beginning of the 
 conflict on that day at Gettysburg. You were about to go into 
 position. After the battle, I learned from the lips of those who had 
 survived the fiery trial, some of the circumstances and incidents of 
 the conflict, and saw that from the position which you occupied 
 you had rendered great service. And then, in Baltimore, at the 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 259 
 
 Custom House, on the following Sunday morning, I learned from 
 the lips of your commander, other facts in relation to the battle, 
 which seemed to deepen the conviction that by your position, 
 bravery, tenacity of purpose, obedience to orders, you so delayed 
 the advance of the Confederates, that Trostle's dooryard became, 
 as it were, the pivotal point in the action of the second clay. 
 
 Before the opening of the engagement, I rode along the line 
 adopted by Gen. Sickles, about which there has been, now is, and 
 probably ever will be, a difference of opinion on the part of military 
 men. I saw that the angle at the Peach Orchard invited attack ; 
 that it presented two fronts ; that one and perhaps both would be 
 attacked ; that one, possibly both, would be subjected to an enfilad- 
 ing fire. I saw that it was a thin line ; that there were not half 
 enough troops to cover it in the 3d Corps. At that moment, there 
 were neither troops nor batteries between the Peach Orchard and 
 your subsequent position. When the battle began, I rode to Little 
 Round Top, tied my horse, gained the summit, where there was 
 only one signal officer and his assistant, where I remained and 
 watched the battle till the bullets began to drop around me from 
 the advance of Hood's Division • till after Gen. Warren's arrival, 
 and left it as Vincent's Brigade and Hazlett's Battery were advanc- 
 ing upon the double quick to take possession. From that point I 
 had a view of the mighty conflict. At my feet Ward's Brigade was 
 having a fearful struggle. Barnes' Division of the 5th Corps was 
 joining. Your own battery, the 5th under Phillips, Clarke's New 
 Jersey, along the road south of Trostle's, were sending out from 
 your guns a great white cloud. The Peach Orchard was all aflame. 
 The Confederate batteries down beyond the house of Mr. Rose 
 and on Warfield's farm, were all thundering. I could see the 
 advancing Confederate brigades of Kershaw and Barksdale. 
 
 We know that the movement of Longstreet's Corps, Hood's and 
 McLaws' Divisions, was designed in the outset to strike Sickles' left 
 flank, and to roll it back towards Cemetery Ridge ; that Anderson's 
 Division of Hill's Corps was at the proper time to strike Hum- 
 phrey's Division along the Emmittsburg road, and make the rout 
 of the Union army complete. But this plan was changed by Hood, 
 
260 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 who, when he advanced came in contact first with the 2d Regiment 
 of sharpshooters under Stoughton, along a wall south of Mr. Rose's 
 house. The sharpshooters fought with great obstinacy, and when 
 at last they were pushed back, they retreated through the woods, 
 directly upon Ward's Brigade, holding the rocky ridge of the 
 Devil's Den at the base of Little Round Top. The Confederates, 
 instead of swinging north, after passing east of Rose's house, found 
 that they must first sweep Ward from his position, and Hood saw, 
 as Longstreet had seen, the value of Little Round Top. I need 
 not tell the story of the battle down by the Wheat Field, but it was 
 so fierce and stubborn that not only Birney's Division of the 3d, 
 but the whole of the 5th Corps, and Caldwell's Division of the 2d, 
 were called upon to hold the line from the Wheat Field to the 
 summit of Little Round Top. This call for troops in that direction, 
 left not a single brigade, not even a regiment, to support you in 
 your position along the road leading from the Peach Orchard 
 eastward, toward Little Round Top. 
 
 It was at this juncture that the Union troops in the Peach 
 Orchard were flanked from the south by Kershaw's South Caro- 
 linians, and from the west by the advance of Barksdale. Phillips', 
 Clarke's, Hart's and Ames' Batteries, under the order of McGilvery, 
 were sent to the rear to form a line of batteries on the ridge, while 
 you were directed to hold the ground at all hazards. The infantry 
 of Graham's, and the three regiments of Bueling's Brigade, in fall- 
 ing back, retreated across the fields north of Trostle's, leaving a 
 wide gap between the left of Brewster's Brigade of Humphrey's 
 Division and the troops down by the Wheat Field — a gap which the 
 9th Mass. Battery was to hold. You know the story — how Kershaw's 
 sharpshooters came stealing along the wall, bounding the eastern 
 side of the Wheat Field and up through the woods on the one hand, 
 and Barksdale pressing you in front, and sweeping past your posi- 
 tion, gaining possession of the barn and the other buildings. 
 
 Through the activity of the 9th Battery, the quick loading and 
 firing of double-shotted canister, through the tenacity of the men, 
 their obedience to orders, the advance of the Confederates was 
 sufficiently delayed to enable McGilvery to arrange twenty-five 
 
NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY. 26l 
 
 guns on the ridge. When Kershaw advanced he was confronted 
 by McGilvery's artillery fire. 
 
 We are to keep in mind the fact that there was not a brigade, 
 not a regiment, at the moment when Lieut. Milton leaped the wall 
 and brought off two of the cannon, to be found to support 
 McGilvery. It was a critical moment. A half hour later, Willard's 
 Brigade of the 2d Corps confronted Barksdale, but it was McGil- 
 verv's guns alone which prevented Kershaw from reaching the 
 ridge. A little later, the 6th Corps and Stannard's Brigade of 
 Vermonters, were coming upon the double quick to hold the ridge. 
 
 We need not indulge in any speculation as to what might have 
 happened ; what did happen has gone into history, and when all 
 the circumstances are taken into account, it seems that in a wise 
 ordering of an overruling Providence, the 9th Battery was selected 
 for the accomplishment of a great end. 
 
 On the evening of the 3d of July, after the repulse of Hill's 
 troops, and the almost annihilation of Pickett's Division, I stood 
 beside one of the guns of Cushing's Batter}-, where men in blue 
 and men in gray were lying, as they had gone down in the terrible 
 struggle. I recognized then and there that this battle was to be, 
 in all probability, regarded as a great turning point in history. 
 I did not believe that the Confederates would ever surpass their 
 effort on that gory field. The ridge, where Cushing went down 
 beside his guns, where the hand to hand conflict took place, is 
 regarded as the high water mark of the Rebellion, but when we take 
 all the circumstances into account, when we reflect that the Union 
 army was far stronger on the third than on the second day ; that it 
 was concentrated and behind breastworks ; when we reflect that 
 the Confederate army was weaker on the afternoon of the third 
 than on the second; that every effort of Lee to turn the right and 
 left flanks had been frustrated ; we can see that the one moment 
 more critical than all others was on the evening of the second day, 
 when Vincent's Brigade was holding Little Round Top, and the 
 9th Battery Trostle's dooryard ; that the high water mark was 
 reached on the evening of the 2d ; that the remnants of Pickett's 
 Brigade, drifting across Cordova's fields on the afternoon of the 3d, 
 was the ebb tide of the Rebellion. 
 
CORRECTIONS. 
 
 ON PAGE 14. 
 
 Read Eleazer Cole, instead of Call. 
 
 ON PAGE 247. 
 
 No. 120, David I. Harmond, enlisted Aug. 4, 1862, instead 
 of [863. Leave out "From 1st Mass. Battery." 
 
 No. 121, G. F. W. Haynes, enlisted Aug. 5, [862, instead 
 of [863. Leave out "From 1st Mass. Battery." 
 
 No. 122. James A. Harvey, enlisted Aug. 7, 1862, instead 
 of 1863. Leave out "From 1st Mass. Batten." 
 
 Xo. 126, Henry C. Hall. Under " Remarks" read "Trans- 
 ferred from 1st Mass. Battery." 
 
 No. 127, Sylvester Horton. Under "Remarks" read 
 "Transferred from 1st Mass. Batter}-." 
 
 No. [28, George Hawes. Under " Remarks" read "Trans- 
 ferred from [st Mass. Battery." 
 
H 107 
 
 75 
 

 
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