THE LIBRARY, 
 OF J^ 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 MEMOIR 
 
 WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 BT 
 
 FRANCIS WINTHROP PALFREY. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 HOUGHTON, OSGOOD AND COMPANY. 
 Htoersilie Press, C-amijriUjje. 
 
 1879.
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1878, 
 BT HOBGHTON, OSGOOD AND COMPANY. 
 
 All Rights Reserved 
 
 RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE : 
 
 STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BT 
 
 H. 0. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY
 
 MEMOIR 
 
 OF 
 
 WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT was born at Ha- 
 verhill, Massachusetts, on the sixth day of June, 
 1840. He was the son of Charles L. Bartlett and 
 of his wife Harriott (Plummer) Bartlett. He 
 was the grandson of the Honorable Bailey Bart- 
 lett, of Haverhill, Massachusetts, and of his great- 
 grandfathers one was present at the siege of Lou- 
 isburg, and another was an officer in the Third 
 Massachusetts Regiment in the Revolutionary 
 War. At the beginning of the year 1861 he was 
 a member of the Junior Class in Harvard Col- 
 lege. He was not a close student, and perhaps a 
 little young for his years. He was rather fond 
 of billiards, suppers, college clubs, and the society 
 of young ladies, and very fond of skating, boat- 
 ing, novels, and the theatre. In person he was 
 tall, straight, and slender, with a certain air of re- 
 serve and dignity of carriage which corresponded 
 
 1407464
 
 2 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 with his as yet undeveloped character. His 
 health was excellent, as it had been from his ear- 
 liest childhood. His political sympathies inclined 
 to the Southern side. On the 2d of January he 
 wrote a theme in which he maintained that the 
 demands of the South were just that she de- 
 manded only her rights under the Constitution ; 
 and in his journal, under date of January 10, he 
 writes, " And then to think that all these troubles 
 have arisen from the interference of the North." 
 Three months later, when the question of going 
 to the war was presenting itself, he writes : " It 
 would be fighting rather against my principles, 
 since I have stuck up for the South all along. 
 We shall see." 
 
 On the 4th of January he had his first drill, 
 under Sergeant T. G. Stevenson, afterwards Gen- 
 eral Stevenson, the gallant soldier who was killed 
 at Spottsylvania, while commanding a Division 
 of the Ninth Corps. On the 17th of April, the 
 same day on which he wrote the sentence about 
 "fighting against his principles," he joined the 
 Fourth Battalion of Massachusetts Volunteer 
 Militia. On the 24th of the same month, he was 
 present at a meeting of the battalion, at which it 
 was voted to accept the proposal that it should 
 garrison one of the forts in Boston Harbor. Opin- 
 ions changed and decisions were formed rapidly 
 in those days. 
 
 On Thursday, the 25th of April, 1861, the
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 3 
 
 Fourth Battalion went to Fort Independence, 
 Boston Harbor, under the command of Stevenson, 
 already commissioned as captain, and in ten days 
 more promoted to the rank of major. Bartlett 
 went with it, and remained with it there, with the 
 exception of a two days' leave, till it returned to 
 Boston on the 25th of May. He thought he did 
 not enjoy his life at the fort, while he was there, 
 but on his return he wrote : " What have I gained 
 during the last month ? I have learnt more mil- 
 itary than I could have learned in a year in the 
 armory or from books I value the knowl- 
 edge acquired in the last month more highly than 
 all the Greek and Latin I have learned in the 
 
 last year I look back on the past month 
 
 as one of the pleasantest and most useful that I 
 remember." The martial fever was already seiz- 
 ing him. He returned to college when the Bat- 
 talion was dismissed, at the expiration of its tour 
 of garrison duty, but he gave much time thence- 
 forth to drills, parades, and other military matters. 
 On the 20th of June he writes : " It is reported 
 that an order has come for ten more regiments. 
 I hope it is so." 
 
 His stay at Fort Independence had done more 
 for him than he knew. The serious, faithful, and 
 intelligent manner in which he had striven to 
 learn and do a soldier's duty there, had attracted 
 the attention of a person who was able soon after 
 to give him the opportunity of entering the mili-
 
 4 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 tary service of the United States with a very high 
 commission for so young a man. In June, 1861, 
 Colonel William Raymond Lee was authorized to 
 raise the Twentieth Regiment of Massachusetts 
 Volunteer Infantry, and to nominate his field and 
 staff officers, and the line officers of two compa- 
 nies. He offered the place of lieutenant-colonel 
 to the writer of this memoir, and, as his age was 
 such that he had little acquaintance among the 
 young men of the period, he asked him to recom- 
 mend suitable persons for the captaincies and 
 lieutenancies at his disposal. Bartlett had been 
 under the writer's command much or all of the 
 time passed at the fort, and had made upon him 
 the favorable impression before alluded to. In 
 Bartlett's journal we find the following modest 
 entries in relation to what followed : 
 
 " Friday, June 28. Palfrey came up to me on the 
 Common, and said he had received the Lieutenant-colo- 
 nel's commission of the Twentieth Regiment ; that he 
 had several commissions at his disposal, and asked me if 
 I wanted one. I replied in the affirmative. I take it as 
 a compliment, his coming and asking me, when there 
 are so many begging him for them." 
 
 "Monday, July 1. Palfrey came to me and said, 
 ' Charley Peirson has been offered the adjutant's office 
 for the Twentieth Regiment. If he does not accept it, 
 would you like it ? ' I was rather taken aback. I told 
 him I would accept it if he thought me capable of quali- 
 fying myself for it. He said he thought I was."
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 5 
 
 " Thursday, July 2. Received a note from Palfrey. 
 I have been appointed captain." 
 
 The news of his appointment must have spread 
 rapidly, for in his journal of the very next day, 
 he records the names of numerous applicants for 
 commissions under him. On the 5th of July, he 
 set out upon his first recruiting expedition. For 
 a few days after, he was busily occupied in re- 
 cruiting, and on the 16th of July, he slept for the 
 first time in the camp of the Twentieth Regiment 
 Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, at Readville. 
 He records in his journal that he slept on the 
 ground, as his men had no straw. He had recom- 
 mended as his first and second lieutenants George 
 N. Macy and Henry L. Abbott, and they had 
 been appointed and commissioned accordingly. 
 Recruiting was slow and difficult at this time, as 
 the regiments with lower numbers had exhausted 
 the first enthusiasm of the community, but his 
 company made steady gains in numbers, and its 
 material was exceptionally good. 
 
 The field and staff officers of the Twentieth 
 Regiment received commissions dated July 1, 
 and the commissions of the line officers were 
 dated July 10. It was, therefore, determined 
 that the regimental rank of the line officers 
 should be arranged in accordance with the esti- 
 mate formed of their soldierly capacity and effi- 
 ciency after a trial of five or six weeks, and the
 
 6 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 Colonel ordered the Lieutenant-colonel, Major, 
 and Adjutant to confer together, and to report 
 the result to him. In pursuance of their action 
 under this order, Captain Bartlett was named 
 senior Captain, and he and his company there- 
 upon took the right of the line. 
 
 On the 4th of September, 1861, the regiment 
 left the State. It passed through New York, 
 Philadelphia, and Baltimore, to Washington, 
 where it made a short stay, and by Sunday, the 
 15th of September, it had marched some thirty- 
 six miles up the Potomac, and was established in 
 what proved to be its home for many months, 
 Camp Benton, between Poolesville and Edwards' 
 Ferry, the latter being a crossing of the Poto- 
 mac near the Virginia town of Leesburg. 
 
 The regiment had been hurried from the State, 
 in consequence of one of the scares which were 
 not uncommon at that time, when it was only 
 about two thirds full. It was well officered, in 
 the main, and was rapidly getting into extremely 
 good condition. It was brigaded with the Nine- 
 teenth Massachusetts, the Seventh Michigan, and 
 the Forty-second New York, commonly called 
 the Tammany Regiment. The force was under 
 the command of General Lander, and formed the 
 Third Brigade of what was then known as the 
 Corps of Observation, a Division of twelve regi- 
 ments of infantry, one of cavalry, and four bat- 
 teries, commanded by General Stone.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 7 
 
 In the five weeks of pleasant autumn weather 
 which followed the arrival of the regiment at 
 Poolesville, Captain Bartlett was occupied in 
 learning his duty as an officer in active service, 
 and in teaching his men, with the aid of his two 
 efficient lieutenants, to perform theirs. Besides 
 company and battalion drills, guard duty, and 
 the usual camp routine of a regiment in the field, 
 the regiment had its share of grand guard and 
 outpost duty, and Captain Bartlett was zealous, 
 intelligent, and faithful on whatever duty he was 
 sent. The following letters were written by him 
 during this period. 
 
 I have let one of my men copy this out of my journal, 
 which I wrote after we got here Sunday night. Part 
 of it was a letter to Ben. I am well and comfortable. 
 
 CAMP FOSTER, September 15, 186L 
 
 After three days' continual marching, we have ar- 
 rived at the most magnificent spot I ever saw. To go 
 back : I last wrote home from Camp Buruside, near 
 Washington. We received orders on the 12th to move 
 immediately across the river. We had heard firing all 
 the day before, and every one was on the qui vive. We 
 had tents struck, baggage packed, and knapsacks slung, 
 and had reached the foot of the hill on which our camp 
 was pitched, when an aide-de-camp of General Lander 
 rode up at full speed, and asked for the Colonel. I 
 directed him, and in a moment the word came down the 
 line, " Column halt ! " The order for crossing the river 
 siere had been countermanded, and we were ordered to
 
 8 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLE1T. 
 
 start for Poolesville, up the river towards Harper's 
 Ferry. "We countermarched, and started up the main 
 road. It was very hot but not dusty. "We made about 
 nine miles over an uneven road, and at night bivouacked 
 under the starlit skies. The water was deep in the hol- 
 lows of our blankets in the morning, and the dew-drops 
 glistened on our noses and hair in the rising sun. 
 
 I caught no cold and never rose more refreshed. "We 
 fell in for the march about half past nine. To-day it 
 was cooler on account of a fresh breeze from the west. 
 I led the column at a smart step until the Colonel rode 
 up and said that the men were complaining of having to 
 march too fast, and asked for an easier gait. We slack- 
 ened up. We marched on through a hilly country for 
 some miles, when we struck off the main road to the left 
 for Rockville. It now began to look more like my idea 
 of an army on the march, now fording a shallow stream 
 and now climbing a long, steep, and rocky hill. Being 
 at the head of the column, I could look back as we 
 reached the top, and see the bayonets glisten down the 
 narrow road until the rear was lost in a cloud of dust. 
 
 We stopped two miles outside of Rockville for dinner, 
 which consisted of hard bread and salt meat from our 
 haversacks. The men have an idea that we live better 
 than they do, wherever we are, but in many cases we 
 do not fare so well. After a short rest we fell in at the 
 beat of the drum, and struck Muddy Branch at sun- 
 down, passing through Rockville under the waving of 
 Union flags. In talking with natives here they are 
 itrong Union, but this one and that one, their neighbors, 
 are secession. 
 
 We bivouacked at Muddy Branch, on a steep hillside,
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 9 
 
 where lying on the ground brought you to almost a per- 
 pendicular position. It was very wet before morning. 
 The sensation is a new and not altogether unpleasant 
 one, of opening your eyes and seeing the stars above 
 you. Saturday morning we received orders from Gen- 
 eral Lander to take extra precautions, as the rebel cav- 
 alry had crossed the river in great numbers, and were 
 intending to cut us off with our large baggage train and 
 ammunition. 
 
 An advanced guard of picked men of Company I 
 was sent forward under my command, with ten rounds 
 of ball cartridges, rifles loaded and capped. Caspar 
 Crowninshield, being second Captain, was given com- 
 mand of the rear guard, with an equal number of men. 
 The regiment had cartridges distributed, but were not 
 allowed to cap their pieces. We left Muddy Run at 
 ten, with a faint hope in my mind of meeting anything 
 like rebel cavalry, but the men were quite elated at 
 the idea of having a brush. We had to halt several 
 times to make the streams fordable for the wagons, and 
 halted without adventure at Seneca Creek, six miles 
 from Poolesville, for the noonday rest and meal. 
 
 We passed on our march within a mile of Gordon's 
 regiment, which is in camp near the road, and saw 
 Lieutenant Morse of the same. During our halt, Cap- 
 tain Abbott, Little's 1 brother, rode up, having heard of 
 our approach. Of course we were glad to see him. 
 All the fellows of their regiment are well and sent love. 
 
 1 Little, here and elsewhere, is Henry L. Abbott, the accom- 
 plished officer who was killed in the Wilderness in May, 1864, 
 as Major of his regiment. The story of his life is told in the 
 Harvard Memorial Biographies.
 
 10 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 
 
 Tom Robeson is at Washington on signal duty, tele- 
 graphing, etc. Ned Abbott rode on with us when we 
 marched, as far as Poolesville, where we halted. The 
 gradual rise to this place is imperceptible, until you see 
 before you in the distance what appear to be clouds in 
 the western horizon. They do not seem to change their 
 shape, and you recognize them soon as mountains, the 
 famous Blue Ridge of Virginia. But what is more sur- 
 prising, you find yourself on a mountain, and looking 
 across a valley of some sixty or seventy miles, through 
 which the Potomac runs. Imagine yourself on the sum- 
 mit of Mount Washington, or higher if you please, and 
 then have the summit stretched out into a flat table- 
 land of fifty square miles, with nothing to obstruct the 
 horizon, and you have a slight idea of our position and 
 view. We were thousands of feet above the level of 
 the sea, and still on every side it was perfectly level 
 until your eye stretched across the surrounding valley 
 and rested on the blue hills beyond. Towering above 
 the others was the famous Sugar Loaf Mountain, from 
 whose summit the signal fires tell the numbers and 
 movements of the foe. 
 
 The scenery was appreciated even by the tired men, 
 and exclamations of surprise would occasionally be heard 
 from the ranks. Our bivouac here at Poolesville has 
 surpassed all others. We are so high that very little 
 dew falls, our blankets being only damp in the morning, 
 and the air is so invigorating that a person is inclined to 
 be pleased with everything. Although this was our 
 third day on the march, and we had come farther than 
 on any other day, the men were in better spirits and 
 eally not so tired as on the night of our first bivouac.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 11 
 
 The river is but four miles from here, and our pickets 
 there exchange shots daily with the rebels. To-day 
 one of ours was killed. Sometimes the pickets will 
 make friendly advances to each other across the river, 
 and leaving their arms will meet half way on the ford, 
 arid chat in the most friendly manner. In one case 
 they exchanged a Boston Journal for a Mobile paper. 
 We have seen nothing of the Rebel cavalry, and before 
 stacking I ordered the guns to be uncapped. 
 
 September 15, Sunday, we had looked forward to as 
 a day of rest, literally, but at eleven we were ordered to 
 have dinner as early as possible, as we must start again 
 for a new camping ground two and a half miles nearer 
 the river. The sun was broiling. I picked up a tin 
 cup lying in the sun, without thinking, and dropped it 
 as though it was red. I believe if my hand had been 
 wet, it would have sizzled. We fell in at two, and pass- 
 ing the advanced regiment of Minnesota Volunteers, de- 
 scended from our table-land towards the river, and are 
 now in advance of everything in this direction. We 
 have the post of honor. In the first advance into Vir- 
 ginia, our regiment, having the right of the brigade, 
 leads ; Company I, having the right of our regiment, 
 also leads. The Minnesota regiment which is to sup- 
 port us is the same that behaved so well at Bull's Run, 
 and was the last to leave the field, and in good order. 
 
 The Colonel considers it a great compliment, placing 
 his regiment so well in advance. But we compare in 
 appearance and drill certainly with any that I have 
 ^een since I left home. We reached our final camp 
 ground about four o'clock, have got our camp laid out, 
 9ur tents pitched, and guard mounted, and hope to stay
 
 12 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 here a week or two to get up again on our drill, etc., 
 which must have lost something from our late irregu- 
 larities. As soon as our brigade is full, we shall prob- 
 ably go on picket duty on the river, which they say is 
 quite pleasant, having just enough danger to make it 
 exciting. A whole company is detailed for a certain 
 number of days, perhaps a week, when it is relieved by 
 the next. I will write at the first opportunity, giving 
 you some of my adventures and experience on picket. 
 
 The Colonel was down at the river to-day with Gen- 
 eral Stone, and got one of our pickets to make advances 
 to his neighbor opposite, and draw him into conversa- 
 tion across the river. They kept in the back-ground, 
 and listened to the dialogue, which of course wasn't in 
 a whisper. The rebel said they had but two or three 
 hundred cavalry there, and ouly one or two batteries. 
 Of course their information goes for what it is worth. 
 But it seems rather laughable, the whole thing. It is 
 impossible for me to realize that we are so near the 
 enemy. I shall, perhaps, when I hear a bullet whistle 
 by my head. 
 
 I have written a good deal, considering we have been 
 on the march for the last four days, but I do not feel 
 tired in the least ; the men are somewhat used up, it 
 being their first march, but they have stood it very well, 
 especially my company. I haven't had one straggler. 
 
 I must stop, not for want of matter but for brevity of 
 candle. The air of the tent feels close and uncomfort- 
 able after living so long in the open air. 
 
 My next may be dated from the " Banks of the 
 Potomac."
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 13 
 
 HEADQUARTERS TWENTIETH REGIMENT MASS. VOLUNTEERS, 
 CAMP BENTON, EDWARDS' FERRY, MD. 
 
 September 24, 1861. 
 DEAR MOTHER : 
 
 September 25, 9 A. M. I had just sat down to write a 
 long letter last eve. (my first opportunity for a week), 
 when an orderly from General Lander brought me writ- 
 ten orders to take command of a detachment for service 
 down at the river. So I had to stop just where I was. 
 I was disappointed, because I had made up my mind to 
 seize this my first spare eve., and do nothing else but 
 write. 
 
 I received five letters to-day from home, dated the 
 21st, 20th, 18th, 17th, and 16th, respectively. They 
 have been lying in Washington. Also a Boston paper, 
 17th. There are so many questions in each one, that it 
 would be useless to try and answer them separately, so 
 I will continue my story from where I left off. 
 
 I was in command of a battalion of three companies 
 and a section of the Third R. I. Battery, in an advance 
 position on the banks of the Potomac. I also had with 
 me a detachment of thirty sharpshooters under Captain 
 Saunders. I was recalled with my command Saturday 
 night, and marched home in a drenching rain six miles. 
 
 The last night I was there I suspected an attack. I 
 doubled the guards, set an extra picket of sharpshooters 
 on the shore of the river, and made every man in the 
 command sleep on his gun with all his equipments on. 
 I was up all night, round the camp and down at the river. 
 We could see the lights of the pickets just across the 
 river. About midnight, one of the boats on this side 
 got loose and floated off. I had to strip and swim after
 
 14 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 it. It was a cold bath at that time of night. I did not 
 take any cold. I am beyond that now. We saw nothing 
 of the enemy. I lay down under a tree about 4 A. M. 
 and slept an hour or two. 
 
 They are erecting a battery on the other side of the 
 river here, a fortified camp. Sunday I had a little time 
 tc sleep, having been without it for so long. 
 
 Sunday night I was going to have a good sleep, when 
 at half-past six orders came to march for the river, infor- 
 mation having been received that the rebels had crossed 
 in force a little way up. I was put in command of a 
 battalion of three companies, and ordered to march to 
 the ferry, and thence up the tow path of the canal about 
 four miles. I marched them at single file, open order. 
 I marched ahead with a few sharpshooters. We bi- 
 vouacked on the path, where we halted. It was very 
 wet before morning. We returned to camp by day- 
 light, without having a skirmish. That night, Mon- 
 day, I got some sleep. As I said before, I expected 
 to write all last night, Tuesday. But at seven, or- 
 ders came to fall in. I received command of half 
 the regiment, all that was sent, five companies. I 
 took Lieutenant Abbott as aide-de-camp. We marched 
 quick time to the ferry. Then I sent Captain Trem- 
 lett up the tow path four miles with two companies, 
 and retained three with me. I formed my detachment 
 into a hollow square, stacked the guns, posted a guard, 
 and let the men lie down where they were. I slept on 
 the floor of a deserted double-roomed house which I 
 made headquarters. I went to sleep, having a sentinel 
 posted near me to wake me on the least alarm. I slept 
 by intervals till four A. M., when I got the captains to get
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 15 
 
 their companies under arms. I left before sunrise, and 
 got back to camp at reveille. Reported at headquarters, 
 and then lay down for a nap. I then thought that I 
 ought to write, and have put off sleeping until night, 
 when ten to one I may be sent off again on some mid- 
 night expedition. Yesterday I acted colonel, and re- 
 ceived the dress parade. This is the first time I have 
 ever had it. It would have looked queer at Readville 
 to see me taking dress parade and have all the officers 
 march up and salute me ; but it comes more natural after 
 having these captains under my command so many times. 
 We shall have a mail carrier soon, so that we may get 
 our letters more punctually. I am afraid my trunk is 
 going to weigh too much according to the new orders. 
 If it does, I shall have to send it home and get another 
 one, a kind of camp trunk, price $8.00 ; then you can 
 send me anything you wish, if it doesn't take up room, 
 or is anything to eat. We live on hard bread and salt 
 meat, and coffee or tea. But I don't care for anything 
 else. I suppose I could buy pies and such things if I 
 wanted. I drill the men now almost altogether as skir- 
 mishers. 
 
 On Monday, tlie 21st day of October, 1861, he 
 was engaged in the battle of Ball's Bluff, at 
 which his company and five other companies of 
 the regiment, all under the command of Colonel 
 Lee, were present. It is not proposed to give in 
 this memoir detailed descriptions of the battles in 
 which the subject of it took part, but his own 
 report of his proceedings, and a letter to his 
 mother, written a few days after, are inserted here.
 
 16 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 CAMP BENTON, October 23, 1861. 
 To GEN. STOKE, Commanding Corps of Observation : 
 
 GENERAL, I have to report that one hundred men 
 of the Twentieth Regiment crossed from Swan's (or 
 Harrison's) island on Monday morning, October 21st, to 
 support the detachment of the Fifteenth and cover its 
 retreat. We climbed the steep bank, one hundred and 
 fifty feet high, with difficulty, and took post on the right 
 of the open space above, sending out scouts in all direc- 
 tions. The detachment of the Twentieth consisted of 
 two companies, I and D, in all one hundred and two 
 men, under command of Colonel Lee. 
 
 A little after daylight, First Sergeant Riddle of Co. I 
 was brought in, shot through the arm by some pickets 
 of the enemy on the right. 
 
 At 8 A. M., a splendid volley was heard from the di- 
 rection of the Fifteenth (who had advanced half a mile 
 up the. road leading from the river), and soon wounded 
 men were brought in towards the river. We were then 
 deployed by Colonel Lee as skirmishers, on each side of 
 the road mentioned, leaving an opening for the Fifteenth 
 to pass through in retreat. They fell back in good 
 order at about 10 A. M. At 11, the other companies of 
 the Fifteenth arrived from the island, and Colonel Dev- 
 ens with his command moved inland again. At this 
 time the remaining men of the Twentieth, under Major 
 Revere, joined us. Major Revere had during the morn- 
 ing brought round from the other side of the island a 
 Email scow, the only means of transportation, excepting 
 the whale boat holding sixteen and the two skiffs hold- 
 ing four and five respectively, with which we crossed in 
 the morning. A.t 2 o'clock, the detachment of Baker's
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 17 
 
 Brigade and the Tammany Regiment had arrived, and 
 Colonel Baker, who disposed the troops under his com- 
 mand. The three hundred and eighteen men of the 
 Twentieth were in the open space, the right up the 
 river ; the Fifteenth were in the edge of the woods on. 
 the right a part of the California (Baker's) Regiment 
 on the left, touching at right angles our right. 
 
 One company of the Twentieth under Captain Put- 
 nam was deployed as skirmishers on the right in the 
 woods, one under Captain Crowninshield on the left. 
 Captain Putnam lost an arm in the beginning of the en- 
 gagement, and was carried to the rear. His company 
 kept their ground well under Lieutenant Hallowell. The 
 Fifteenth had before this, after the arrival of General 
 Baker, fallen back the second time, in good order, and 
 had been placed by General Baker as above mentioned. 
 The enemy now opened on us from the woods in front 
 with a heavy fire of musketry, which was very effective. 
 They fired low, the balls all going within from one to 
 four feet of the ground. 
 
 Three companies of the Twentieth were kept in re- 
 serve, but on the open ground, exposed to a destructive 
 fire. It was a continual fire now, with occasional pauses 
 of one or two minutes, until the last. The rifled cannon 
 was on the left, in the open ground, in front of a part of 
 Baker's regiment, exposed to a hot fire. It was not dis- 
 charged more than eight times. The gunners were shot 
 down in the first of the engagement, and I saw Colonel 
 Lee carry a charge to the gun with his own hand. The 
 last time that it was fired, the recoil carried it down the 
 rise to the edge of the bank. The men of the Twentieth 
 Regiment behaved admirably, and all that were left of 
 2
 
 18 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 them were on the field, after the battle was declared lost 
 by General Baker. They acted, at least all under my 
 command, with great coolness and bravery, and obeyed 
 every command implicitly, and even after the intimation 
 had been given that we must surrender in order to save 
 the men that had been left, they cheerfully rallied and 
 delivered a well directed fire upon two companies which 
 we met, which had just advanced out of the woods. 
 
 We were slowly driven back by their fire in return, 
 and covered ourselves with the slight rise mentioned 
 above. We tried to induce the Colonel to attempt an 
 escape, and got him down the bank unhurt I turned 
 to collect the remnant of my company, and when I re- 
 turned to the bank, they told me that the Colonel (Lee), 
 Major, and Adjutant had got into a small boat, and were 
 by this time safely across. Feeling at ease then about 
 them, I collected all that I found of the Twentieth, and 
 gave permission to all those who could swim and wished 
 to, to take to the water, and sent over reports and mes- 
 sages by them. I then ordered those of the regiment 
 who could not swim to follow up the river, in order to 
 get them out of the murderous volleys which the enemy 
 were pouring down upon us from the top of the bank. 
 About twenty of the Twentieth Regiment, twenty of the 
 Fifteenth, and forty of the Tammany and California regi- 
 ments, followed us. 
 
 We went up as far as the large mill, where I found, 
 by means of a negro there, a smaU sunken skiff in the 
 mill-way, and induced him to get it out of water and 
 down to the river. It was capable of holding five men, 
 and I began to send them over, expecting every minute 
 to be discovered by the enemy. In an hour they were
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 19 
 
 all over, and I crossed with Lieutenant Abbott of my com- 
 pany, and Captain Tremlett of Company A, Twentieth. 
 I reported with the men at the hospital on the island. 
 They got across to this side during the night. They 
 were obliged to stop at the ferry and sleep out, many of 
 them without overcoats or blankets, till morning. Out 
 of twenty-two officers that were with us in the engage- 
 ment, thirteen are killed, wounded, or missing ; of three 
 hundred and eighteen men, one hundred and forty-six 
 are killed, wounded, or missing. The Colonel (Lee), I 
 learned at the island, had not crossed, but I have since 
 learned that he and his companions went farther up the 
 river, found the boat which I afterwards used, thought it 
 impracticable, and went on. They were (by the report 
 of one or two men who have since come in) taken pris- 
 oners. Colonel Lee, Major Revere, Adjutant Peirson, 
 Dr. Revere, and Lieutenant Perry are supposed to have 
 been together. I supposed it was my duty to make this 
 report of that part of the regiment engaged, as senior 
 officer of those saved. 
 
 CAMP BENTON, 
 Saturday Night, October 25, 1861. 
 
 MY DEAR MOTHER, .... I have not had time 
 or heart to write you, who had such good news to hear, 
 when I thought of those who could not get anything but 
 bad tidings. I have been very busy during the whole 
 week (which seems like one long day, or rather night), 
 being in command of the regiment nearly all the time. 
 To my great joy Lieutenant-colonel Palfrey returned in 
 safety with his men Wednesday night, when all the 
 forces were withdrawn from the Virginia shore by order 
 of McClellan, who was here.
 
 20 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 General Lander was brought here wounded in the leg 
 that day, and when I went up to headquarters, I heard 
 that McClellan had just heen up to see him. It was 
 cheering news for me, for I knew that we had by this 
 time got four thousand men across, below our battle 
 ground, at Edwards' Ferry, and I was in hopes some 
 
 General would come who could take command 
 
 In your letter of Sunday, which I got "Wednesday, you 
 hoped I should have a day of rest ; you little thought 
 that I should be the other side of the Potomac at 
 two the next -morning. I had neither food nor sleep 
 from Saturday night until I got back to camp Tuesday 
 morning. We crossed the river, Caspar and I, under 
 command of Colonel Lee, in all one hundred men, in a 
 whale boat that would carry sixteen, and two small 
 boats holding five and four respectively. I went over 
 first, and found a steep bank one hundred and fifty feet 
 high, with thick wood on it. There was not room 
 enough to form ten men, and the banks were so slippery 
 that you could not stand. I formed the men in single 
 file up the path, waiting for the Colonel and the rest of 
 the men. 
 
 After they were all over, we wound our way up this 
 precipice and formed on the open space above. The 
 detachment of the Fifteenth, three hundred men, now 
 moved up the road leading from the top of the bank 
 inland. We were to remain there to support them, and 
 cover their retreat. We gave the men distinctly to un- 
 derstand that they must stand fast if the Fifteenth came 
 running down the road, wait till they had passed, and 
 then cover their retreat. It looked rather dubious. 
 The Fifteenth might get across, but we must check the
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 21 
 
 advance of the enemy and get cut to pieces. We sent 
 out scouts in all directions ; three men under a sergeant 
 composed each party. 
 
 My First Sergeant Riddle went out on our right. At 
 this time we did not know how many of the enemy there 
 might be within gunshot of us. It was now about sun- 
 rise, when we heard three or four shots in rapid succes- 
 sion on our right. In a few minutes my First Sergeant 
 (Riddle) was brought in, shot through the elbow. He 
 was fainting from loss of blood. We tied a handker- 
 chief around his arm and sent him down to the river. 
 (I might as well finish with him here. It was a sad 
 opening for me, he was the best sergeant in the regi- 
 ment, a favorite of both the Colonel and General 
 Lander, and perfectly invaluable to me. He is now at 
 the hospital, and I am in hopes of saving his arm ; the 
 bone is shattered ; he has great pain but good spirits.) 
 It was nearly nine when we heard a splendid volley in the 
 direction of the Fifteenth. We knew we were in for it 
 then. Soon wounded men were brought down the road 
 mentioned. How large a force they had met we did not 
 know, but we learned from the wounded that the volley 
 was from the enemy. We expected now to see the 
 Fifteenth falling back on us. The firing ceased and we 
 were in suspense, thinking that they might have been 
 surrounded, and waiting to see the enemy come down 
 that road and sweep our hundred men into the river. 
 We were then deployed as skirmishers across the road, 
 Company I on the right, Caspar on the left, an opening 
 at the road to let the Fifteenth pass through to the river, 
 %nd then check their pursuers until they could get across. 
 I never expected to see Camp Benton again, then, and I
 
 22 
 
 remember being sorry that my bundle had not yet come 
 from home before I left camp, and that there would be 
 no one there to open it when it came. I wondered 
 what you were thinking of at the time, and was glad that 
 you little dreamed of our critical position. 
 
 At ten A. M. Colonel Devens with his men came down 
 the road in good order. He reported that there were 
 three to four regiments of the enemy, besides cavalry. 
 Our case was looking rather unpleasant, to say the least 
 We were not attacked, the enemy fearing that we might 
 have a larger force. They seem to refuse a fight unles? 
 you give them odds. At eleven, the remainder of the 
 Fifteenth came over, and they went back up the road 
 again, six hundred in all. The rest of our regiment 
 which crossed over on to the island with us the night be- 
 fore, the island, Harrison's, is midway between the two 
 shores, low and flat, now came over to us, making with 
 Caspar's company and mine three hundred and eighteen. 
 The California Regiment, of Philadelphia, now began to 
 get over, and the prospect for a more even fight looked 
 better. But you can imagine what a long morning it 
 was, waiting either for reinforcements or the order to 
 withdraw, with nothing to eat since dinner the day be- 
 fore. My company being deployed as skirmishers, I had 
 given the order " Lie down," and I myself reclined on 
 my elbow and dozed for half an hour. I woke up and 
 found that nearly all my skirmishers lying down had 
 taken the opportunity to go to sleep, poor fellows. I 
 couldn't bear to wake them until the first volley of mus- 
 ketry was heard from the woods near us. It shows 
 that the boys were either indifferent to danger, or were 
 worn out with fatigue, to go to sleep on the field, where 
 balls were occasionally dropping in.
 
 THEHEUOTYFEPRDtTmoCO. 220 DETOKSHnffi &r BOSTCW
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 23 
 
 General Baker arrived with his regiment (California 
 it is called, composed of Philadelphia men). He dis- 
 posed the troops under his command as follows : 
 
 The Twentieth, three hundred and eighteen men, in 
 the open space, their right up the river. The Fifteenth, 
 six hundred, in the edge of the woods on the right. 
 The California Regiment, part of it, on their left, touch- 
 ing at right angles our right. 
 
 A part of the Tammany Regiment was placed in front 
 of us by Baker, but I am sorry to say that after the first 
 volley there was nobody in front of us but the enemy ; 
 they broke and fell in behind us. 
 
 The following plan will show you our position after 
 one or two volleys had been fired on us. [See Plan.] 
 
 Well the first volley came and the balls flew like hail. 
 You can see from our position on the plan that we were 
 exposed to their full fire. The whizzing of balls was a 
 new sensation. I had read so much about being under 
 fire and flying bullets that I was curious to experience 
 it. I had a fair chance. An old German soldier told 
 me that he had been in a good many battles, but that he 
 never saw such a concentrated fire before. They fired 
 beautifully, too, their balls all coming low, within from 
 one to four feet of the ground. The men now began to 
 drop around me ; most of them were lying down in the first 
 of it, being ordered to keep in reserve. Those that were 
 lying down, if they lifted their foot or head it was 
 struck. One poor fellow near me was struck in the hip 
 while lying flat, and rose to go to the rear, when an- 
 other struck him on the head, and knocked him over. I 
 felt that if I was going to be hit, I should be, whether I 
 stood up or lay down, so I stood up and walked around
 
 24 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 among the men, stepping over them and talking to them 
 in a joking way, to take away their thoughts from the 
 bullets, and keep them more self possessed. I was sur- 
 prised at first at my own coolness. I never felt better, 
 although I expected of course that I should feel the 
 lead every second, and I was wondering where it would 
 take me. I kept speaking to Little, surprised that he 
 was not hit amongst this rain of bullets. I said two or 
 three times " Why Lit., are n't you hit yet f " I remember 
 Macy was lying where the grass was turned up, and I 
 "roughed" him for getting his coat so awfully dirty. 
 Lit. was as cool and brave as I knew he would be. The 
 different companies began to wilt away under this ter- 
 rible fire. Still there was no terror among the men ; 
 they placed implicit confidence in their officers (I refer 
 to our regiment particularly), and you could see that 
 now was the time they respected and looked up to them. 
 We were driven back inch by inch, towards the top of 
 the bank. The rifled cannon was not fired more than 
 eight times ; the last time, the recoil carried it over the 
 bank, and it went crushing through the trees, wounding 
 many. General Baker was standing near me about four 
 o'clock ; he seemed indifferent to bullets. He said it was 
 of no use, it was all over with us. A few minutes after, 
 he fell, struck by eight balls all at once ; so you can judge 
 by this how thick they flew. No one took command 
 after he fell ; in fact the battle was lost some time before. 
 At this time I came on Captain Dreher; he was shot 
 through the head in the upper part of his cheek. I took 
 hold of him, turned his face towards me, thought that he 
 
 tould not live but a few minutes, and pushed ahead. 
 
 When we fell back again, he had been taken to the
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 25 
 
 rear, and was got across. He is now in a fair way to 
 recovery, the ball not striking any vital part. Lieuten- 
 ants Lowell and Putnam and Captain Schmitt were 
 now down, but were carried to the bank and taken 
 across. 
 
 Captain John Putnam, I forgot to say, was brought 
 down by where we were from the right, where he was 
 skirmishing, in the very first of the fight. I remember 
 how I envied him at getting off with the loss of an arm, 
 and I wished then that I could change places with him. 
 For I knew then, that we should either be killed or 
 taken prisoners. The field now began to look like my 
 preconceived idea of a battle field. The ground was 
 smoking and covered with blood, while the noise was 
 perfectly deafening. Men were lying under foot, and 
 here and there a horse struggling in death. Coats and 
 guns strewn over the ground in all directions. I went 
 to the Colonel and he was sitting behind a tree, perfectly 
 composed. He told me there was nothing to be done 
 but "surrender and save the men from being mur- 
 dered." Most of the men had now got down the bank. 
 I thought it over in my mind, and reasoned that we 
 might as well be shot advancing on the enemy, as to be 
 slaughtered like sheep at the foot of the bank. 
 
 I called for Company I for one last rally. Every man 
 that was left sprang forward, and also about six men 
 (all who were left) of Captain Dreher's company, and ten 
 men of Company H under Lieutenant Hallowell, all of 
 whom followed me up the rise. As we reached the top, 
 I found Little by my side. "We came upon two fresh 
 companies of the enemy which had just come out of the 
 woods ; they had their flag with them. Both sides were
 
 26 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 so surprised at seeing each other they at seeing us 
 coming up with this handful of men, we at seeing these 
 two new companies drawn up in perfect order, that each 
 tide forgot to fire. And we stood looking at each other 
 (not a gun being fired) for some twenty seconds, and then 
 they let fly their volley at the same time we did. 
 
 If bullets had rained before, they came in sheets now. 
 It is surprising that any one could escape being hit. We 
 were driven back again. I had to order sharply one or 
 two of my brave fellows before they would go back. 
 Everything was lost now. 
 
 One of the Philadelphia papers says, "After every- 
 thing was given up as lost, a captain of the Fifteenth 
 Regiment rallied the remnants of two companies, and 
 charged gallantly up the rise, but was driven back by 
 overpowering numbers, after delivering a well directed 
 volley." So far so good. Then it says, "but seeing 
 the hopelessness of the case, he tied a white handkerchief 
 on his sword and surrendered himself and the remnant 
 of his regiment." 
 
 The officer in question did not get quite so far as the 
 last part of the story, nor did he belong to the Fif- 
 teenth Massachusetts, .... 
 
 "When we got back to the bank, we induced the Colo- 
 nel to go down and try to escape. The Adjutant took his 
 left arm and I his right, and we got him down the bank 
 unhurt. Here was a horrible scene. Men crowded 
 together, the wounded and the dying. The water was 
 full of human beings, struggling with each other and 
 the water, the surface of which looked like a pond 
 when it rains, from the withering volleys that the en- 
 emy were pouring down from the top of the bank.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 27 
 
 Those who were not drowned ran the chance of being 
 shot. I turned back and left the Colonel, to collect 
 the remnant of my company, and when I returned he 
 was gone. I asked for him, and they told me that he, 
 the Major', and Adjutant had got into a small boat and 
 gone across safely. I looked, and saw a small boat 
 landing on the other side, and took it for granted they 
 were safe. I then, being in command, collected what I 
 could of the regiment, and told those who could swim, 
 and wished to, to take the water, it was the only means 
 of escape. Nearly all my company could swim, and I 
 made them stop and take off their clothes. We sent 
 over reports and messages by them. Little and I 
 thought it our duty to stay by those men who could not 
 swim. I allowed Macy to go, hoping that one of us 
 might get home to tell the story. Little sent his watch 
 over by Kelly, the bravest boy in our company, and 
 I told him to go to Boston, and go to you and tell you 
 that your son was probably a prisoner. What should 
 you have said to the news ? Little did you think or 
 know what was taking place on that Monday after- 
 noon, when 
 
 Volleys on right of us, 
 
 Volleys on left of us, 
 
 Volleys in front of us, 
 
 Battled and thundered. 
 
 I now determined to get the men out of this fire, and 
 surrender without any more loss. I started up the 
 river, followed by about twenty men of the Twentieth 
 Regiment, twenty of the Fifteenth, and forty of the 
 Tammany and California regiments. Captain Trem- 
 lett, Company A, Twentieth, Lieutenant Whittier, ditto,
 
 28 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 and Little Abbott went with me. An officer of the Fif- 
 teenth also was with the party. We followed up the 
 edge of the river, and came to an old mill which we 
 knew was up in this direction. It was owned and run 
 by a man named Smart, who lived in Leesburg, so the 
 negro told me, whom I questioned as to who was there. 
 We expected to stumble on a party of the rebels every 
 step. I asked him where his boat was. He wondered 
 how I knew that they had one, and said it was up in 
 the mill -way. 
 
 I went up there and found a skiff under water, twenty 
 rods away from the edge of the river. It was capable 
 of holding five persons. Those with me declared it use- 
 less and impracticable, and proposed going into the mill, 
 get a good night's rest, and give ourselves up in the 
 morning. I thought, though, that if I only got one 
 load of five over, it would be worth trying ; so we got 
 it down to the river and began the transportation, ex- 
 pecting every minute to be discovered and fired at by 
 the rebels. When the boat was put into the water, the 
 whole crowd made a rush for it. I had to use a little 
 persuasion by stepping in front of it, drew my pistol 
 (for the first time this afternoon), and swore to God 
 that I would shoot the first man who moved without my 
 order. It was the only thing that saved them. They 
 were obedient and submissive, and avoided being shot 
 by me or taken prisoners by the enemy. I selected 
 five men of my own company and sent them across 
 first, with a man to bring back the boat. So, by de- 
 grees, I got those of the Twentieth, next those of the 
 Fifteenth (whose officer, by the way, sneaked off, got 
 across on a raft, and left his men on my hands), and
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 29 
 
 lastly those of the Tammany and California regiments. 
 I sent Lieutenant Whittier over in the second load, to 
 look out for the men as they came over. It was a tedi- 
 ous job. At last I went over with Tremlett and Little, 
 and was once more back on the island. We thus saved 
 eighty men and three officers from being taken prison- 
 ers. I learned afterwards that the Colonel, Major, and 
 Adjutant were ahead of me up the river, had been to 
 the mill, found the boat, thought it impracticable, and 
 went on. They were afterwards taken prisoners. Lieu- 
 tenant Perry and Dr. Eevere were with them. We 
 went down to the hospital opposite our battle-field, 
 where we found the wounded beifcg cared for. They 
 had heard, and believed, that I was shot, and the wel- 
 come that the men gave me brought the first tears to 
 my eyes. 
 
 I got to the Maryland side with all that I could find 
 of my company (five men) about twelve, midnight. Then 
 w6 had still that long walk down the tow-path and up 
 to our camp from the river, where we arrived at three 
 A. M. I got to bed pretty well tired out at half past 
 three. When I awoke there were several waiting at 
 my tent door for me to awake, to welcome me and con- 
 gratulate me on my safe return. 
 
 On waking, I sent telegraphs to Jane by mail to send 
 to Boston ; did you get them ? 
 
 By the time I was up, Colonel Palfrey had started oft* 
 with the only remaining company of the regiment (Com- 
 pany K) to cross the river at Edwards' Ferry. He 
 got back safe, as I told you, and relieved me from the 
 command of the regiment. 
 
 The first night that I was here in command, I thought
 
 80 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 it best to have a dress parade as usual, both to let the 
 men see that everything was not broken up, and to cheer 
 them with the music. It had a very good effect. I pub- 
 lished to them that night the following order : 
 
 HEADQUARTERS TWENTIETH REGT. MASS. VOLS., 
 CAMP BENTON, October 23. 
 
 General Order No. 
 
 It is the pleasant duty of the commanding officer to 
 congratulate the men of the Twentieth Regiment on 
 their admirable conduct in the late battle. Your cour- 
 age and bravery under a galling fire for hours was only 
 equaled by your coolness and steadiness throughout. 
 
 He laments, with you, the loss of so many brave offi- 
 cers and men ; but hopes, with you, that the time may 
 soon come when we may avenge that loss. 
 
 You have established your reputation for bravery, 
 and gained honor, though you lost the victory. 
 
 By order Commanding Officer. 
 
 The men were quite affected, and the next time the 
 Twentieth is engaged she will leave a mark that will 
 not be lost sight of in history. 
 
 Out of twenty-two officers that were engaged, only 
 aine returned safe. Of three hundred and eighteen 
 men, one hundred and forty-six were killed, wounded, or 
 missing ; a loss which, in proportion to the number en- 
 gaged, you seldom see. I send you a list of officers 
 killed, wounded, and missing, and also of Company I, 
 as they may send to you to learn. 
 
 Col. W. Raymond Lee, missing, prisoner (unhurt). 
 
 Major P. J. Revere, missing, prisoner (unhurt).
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 31 
 
 Dr. E. H. R. Revere, missing, prisoner (unhurt). 
 
 Adj. C. L. Peirson, missing, prisoner. 
 
 Lieut. G. B. Perry, missing, prisoner. 
 
 Lieut. Wesselhoeft, missing, probably drowned. 
 
 Capt. Babo, missing, probably drowned. 
 
 Lieut. W. L. Putnam, wounded, since died. 
 
 Capt. G. A. Schmitt, wounded badly, doing well. 
 
 Lieut. Lowell, wounded slightly (flesh), doing well. 
 
 Capt. Dreher, wounded in the head, doing well. 
 
 Capt. Putnam (John), wounded (lost right arm), do- 
 ing well. 
 
 Lieut. Holmes (0. W.), wounded (breast), doing 
 well. 
 
 A sad report, but it might have been worse. 
 
 Of Company I, forty-eight men were engaged, twenty 
 (nearly half) were killed, wounded, or missing, as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 Those that are missing were either shot or drowned 
 in the river. 
 
 First Sergt. Riddle (W. R.), wounded, right arm shat- 
 tered. 
 
 Corp. Thomas Hollis, wounded (finger shot off), doing 
 well. 
 
 Private A. M. Barber, wounded (right arm), doing 
 well. 
 
 A. Davis, killed, shot through heart. 
 
 Thomas Dolan, wounded, finger shot off. 
 
 Lewis Dunn, missing, probably shot. 
 
 W. F. Hill, missing, probably shot. 
 
 Albert Kelly, missing, probably shot. 
 
 M. V. Kempton, missing, probably a prisoner. 
 
 Sam. Lowell, missing, probably a prisoner.
 
 32 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 
 
 Pete McKenna (my pet and pride), missing, took the 
 water, probably shot. 
 
 G. C. Pratt, wounded badly (will recover). 
 
 Julius Strick, wounded (right arm). 
 
 James Seddon, wounded (heel), doing well. 
 
 Albert Stackpole, wounded, since died. 
 
 George G. Worth, missing, probably shot swimming. 
 
 Summerhays, wounded slightly in the hand. 
 
 0. Gammons, wounded, finger shot off. 
 
 E. V. Skinner, missing, perhaps a prisoner. 
 
 1. Barker, missing, perhaps a prisoner. 
 
 Killed and wounded, 11 ; missing, 9 ; total loss, 20. 
 
 Worth and McKenna were two noble fellows. I was 
 saying to Little a day or two before, how sorry I should 
 be to have any of these men killed, in whom we took 
 such an interest ! I send you a little piece of a knot of 
 crape which went through the fight on Monday last. 
 It was tied on to my sword hilt the day before. Cas- 
 par had a piece on his hilt, but said that he saw it 
 when we were marching up the tow-path, and tore it off 
 instantly. He and I were the only captains that had 
 crape on our swords, and were the only two that were 
 not hit. Captain Putnam is getting along finely. Cap- 
 tain Schmitt will recover. He has a great deal of pain, 
 but bears it splendidly. 
 
 Well, mother, I have written a pretty long letter, 
 but I guess you will be interested enough to read it 
 through. I have written of course what I should not 
 have done to any one else, and you must not show it. 
 My official report to General Stone was in substance 
 like this, except, of course, the parts relating to my- 
 self, which it did not become me to speak of to any one
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRAKCI8 BART LETT. 33 
 
 else but you at home. I have now been through my 
 first battle, and it was a fierce one. If we should have 
 a campaign of ten years, we could never get in such a 
 place where we should lose so many men or be under 
 such severe fire. General Stone told Colonel Palfrey 
 last night that the rebels' official report made them lose 
 three hundred men killed and wounded, and that they 
 had five thousand troops engaged to our sixteen hun- 
 dred. W. 
 
 In the night following the battle, the Lieuten- 
 ant-colonel of the Twentieth, with all of the bri- 
 gade left in camp, except a slender camp guard, 
 was ordered across the river at a point some 
 four miles below the battle-field, and he did not 
 return till the following Thursday morning. His 
 absence, and the capture of Colonel Lee and 
 Major Revere, left Bartlett the senior officer of 
 the regiment present for duty. His action dur- 
 ing these two days was wise and thoughtful. He 
 had a dress parade the next night after he got 
 back from the battle, " both to give the men the 
 idea that everything was not broken up, and also 
 to cheer them with the music of the band." 
 
 In his journal he wrote, a few days after, in 
 reference to some articles in the Boston and New 
 York papers : " They compliment me too highly, 
 who did nothing more than my duty. My cool- 
 ness was in me. I ought not to have the credit 
 of it, but be grateful to God, who in his mercy
 
 84 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 has spared me, for granting me the courage and 
 self-possession." 
 
 The battle of Ball's Bluff cost the Twentieth 
 Regiment its colonel, major, adjutant, assistant 
 surgeon, and one first lieutenant taken prisoner, 
 a captain and two lieutenants killed, and three 
 captains and two lieutenants severely wounded, in 
 addition to about one hundred and fifty non-com- 
 missioned officers and privates killed, wounded, 
 and missing. Captain Bartlett became, by reason 
 of these casualties, the second officer of the regi- 
 ment present for duty, and he so continued during 
 the whole of the following six months, the period 
 of his stay with the regiment in the field. For 
 four months the regiment remained in its old 
 camp, and then it moved to Poolesville, where it 
 passed a few days. It then formed part of the 
 column which marched up to Harper's Ferry, in 
 support of General Banks, and moved out through 
 Charlestown to Berryville. It returned to Har- 
 per's Ferry, and was cantoned for a week at Boli- 
 var Heights, took rail for Washington, and thence 
 was transported by water to Fortress Monroe. 
 There the Corps of Observation, already for some 
 time under the command of General Sedgwick, 
 became the Second Division of the Second Army 
 Corps, under General Sumner. The brigade was 
 now commanded by General Dana. The regi- 
 ment moved up the Peninsula with the rest of the 
 army of McClellan, and took part in the so-called 
 eiege of Yorktown.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 35 
 
 During all this period, Captain Bartlett proved 
 himself fully equal to the onerous duties and 
 responsibilities to which the fortune of war had 
 called him. It is impossible to estimate too 
 highly the value of the assistance he gave to 
 his commanding officer, and of his services to 
 the command. While his class-mates were still 
 undergraduates, he rapidly made himself a most 
 efficient and accomplished second officer of a regi- 
 ment in the field. In those early days of the 
 war, none of us knew our duties too well, and 
 imperfect knowledge made the task of those who 
 strove to be faithful very laborious. The princi- 
 ple of the subdivision of labor, which applies in 
 the fullest force to a thoroughly organized regi- 
 ment, was very partially understood, and very 
 partially put in force. Every conscientious regi- 
 mental commander had his hands full, and the 
 calamity at Ball's Bluff brought an immense 
 amount of miscellaneous work upon the com- 
 mander of the Twentieth. The mail came day 
 after day, laden with letters for him, from the 
 friends of the killed, the wounded, the missing, 
 and of those who were safe, but had neglected to 
 report their safety to their homes. The daily 
 routine of the regiment had to be gone through 
 with, the numerous visitors to camp had to be 
 courteously received, the immense mass of corre- 
 spondence had to be disposed of, and late at night 
 came his final rounds in the hospitals in which
 
 86 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 the wounded lay. With even a respectable offi- 
 cer in the second place, something of what was 
 done and ought to have been done must have 
 been more or less neglected, but, fortunately for 
 us all, Bartlett was more than a respectable offi- 
 cer. Always alert, always zealous, he kept cheer- 
 fully and successfully at work. He took a great 
 interest in tactics, and rapidly made himself a 
 proficient in the school of the battalion, and 
 drilled the regiment constantly and well. His 
 height, fine carriage, good horsemanship, and 
 powerful voice, caused him to appear in such 
 positions to the greatest advantage. It was char- 
 acteristic of him, that at this time he learned to 
 play the bugle sufficiently well to sound the in- 
 fantry calls. In some way or other he acquired 
 such a knowledge of the evolutions of the line 
 that one day, when he was unexpectedly called 
 upon to take the regiment out for brigade drill, 
 under a colonel accidentally in command of the 
 brigade, and who was believed to have been pri- 
 vately studying, in order to surprise and catch the 
 Twentieth, he maneuvered his battalion smoothly 
 and without hesitation, while some of his neigh- 
 bors bungled. 
 
 About the first of December, 1861, at the invi- 
 tation of his commanding officer, he joined tents 
 with him, and their personal friendship, strength- 
 ened by this close relation, knew no change while 
 he lived, except to grow closer as time went on.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 37 
 
 The following letters describe some of his expe- 
 riences in the early part of the Peninsular Cam- 
 paign, of which he was only permitted to see the 
 commencement. His care of his men on the 
 evening following their first reconnoissance was 
 gratefully remembered and mentioned by them 
 when we turned in our colors on the 22d of 
 December, 1865. 
 
 CAMP BEFORE YORKTOWN, April 10, 1862. 
 
 DEAK MOTHER: I have been through some danger 
 safely since I wrote you Sunday. Monday morning our 
 regiment, with the Nineteenth Massachusetts, went out 
 on a reconnoissance towards Yorktown. We marched 
 three or four miles through the woods and mud, when 
 we came to a rebel entrenchment on the opposite side of 
 a swamp, which they had made by damming a stream. 
 
 The engineer who went with the General reconnoitered 
 it, covered by our skirmishers. We exchanged perhaps 
 a hundred shots with them, without doing any damage to 
 any one, and, the engineer having accomplished his ob- 
 ject, we left, and kept to the left ; about two miles. We 
 came to another battery on the same stream. Here they 
 opened on us with shell from a thirty-two-pounder. 
 Three men of the Nineteenth were wounded. One died 
 that night. We got under the cover of some woods and 
 covered the engineer while he reconnoitered. It looked 
 pretty squally when they opened on us with shell, as we 
 had no artillery with us. We withdrew about dark, 
 having effected the object of the reconnoissance. We 
 had 19 march home in the dark, through the woods, in 
 up to our knees. It had rained hard all day.
 
 38 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 I had the fortune to wear my rubber coat, so that 
 I was n't much wet above my waist. I walked, and wore 
 my shoes. We were pretty tired when we got back. 
 The Colonel and I had a tent to sleep in, but the men 
 had nothing to do but lie down in the mud and let it 
 rain. Most of them stood up round the fires all night to 
 keep warm. I managed to get two dozen bottles of whis- 
 key from the sutler, which he had brought for officers, 
 and distributed it so that each man got a small drink of 
 hot whiskey and water. I stayed out till eleven o'clock 
 in the rain doing it. I then came in, took off my stock- 
 ings and pants, which were wet through, rubbed my feet 
 dry, and lay down and slept soundly enough. I woke 
 all right in the morning. It was still raining, and is to- 
 day, the third day. I hope it will stop soon. This has 
 delayed the advance very much, as it is impossible to 
 move artillery. 
 
 John Putnam is going back to Fort Monroe ; he 
 can't stand this, it is too rough for him. Riddle, the 
 same. 
 
 Two or three of the officers are sick, but I am as well 
 as ever. Arthur is a little unwell to-day, but you 
 need n't tell his mother, because he will be all right to- 
 morrow, and she would be only worried. General Sum- 
 ner arrived to-day with the rest of his corps. I have n't 
 Been General McClellan since he passed on the road. 
 He is here. Colonel Lee is at the fort. He will not 
 join us at present, he thinks. 
 
 Love to all. W.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 39 
 
 Sunday Eve. 
 CAMP BEFORE YORKTOWN, April 20, 1862. 
 
 DEAR MOTHER : It is just six months ago to-night 
 since we crossed over to Harrison's Island and Ball's 
 Bluff. We are having very hard duty just now, and 
 shall have for some time. We are camped in the same 
 swamp, within three quarters of a mile from the ene- 
 my's works. We have to go out every third day and 
 picket the whole brigade, close to them. Day before 
 yesterday we were out; we go again to-morrow. We 
 were firing all day, whenever we saw anything to shoot 
 at. We had one of our men badly wounded in the breast. 
 Last night we were turned out twice by a brisk volley of 
 musketry, which seemed just on the edge of the camp. 
 Our pickets were driven in, and the firing lasted about 
 fifteen minutes. Some of the bullets dropped into the 
 camp. They were driven back without our going out. 
 We were turned out again at two, and stood in the rain 
 and mud. This morning we expected a quiet day, al- 
 though the camp was all water and mud ; raining hard. 
 About ten, sharp firing commenced, and we had to fall 
 in, and our two brigades were marched out to the front, 
 where the other brigade was on picket. We expected 
 that we were in for a fight, as Sunday is the favorite day. 
 We lay out in the woods all day in the rain, and came in 
 to-night without doing anything ; they did not see fit to 
 attack. We keep up a continual shelling of their works. 
 To-morrow we take our turn again. I suppose we shall 
 be turned out once or twice to-night ; that 's why I am 
 in no hurry to go to bed, as I want to wait until after 
 the first turn-out. I hope it won't rain to-morrow while 
 Ve are out. I am fortunate in being so well, many of 
 Jie officers being sick with diarrhrea.
 
 40 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 We may have a week or more of this sort of duty 
 before the grand attack. It is very unpleasant duty. No 
 glory in being shot by a picket behind a tree. It is 
 regular Indian fighting. I have not been exposed much. 
 I got a letter from you day before yesterday. I expect 
 to hear the rattle of musketry every minute, but I am 
 going to try and get some sleep. This is trie hard part 
 of a soldier's life ; the battle would be a holiday as a re- 
 lief from this. It will be pleasant to look back on this, 
 if I ever get back, and hear the rain beat on the cupola 
 and think of the nights I have lain out in it in the woods, 
 listening to the pickets firing and the shells bursting, wet 
 and dirty. When it does n't rain it is very hot. Night 
 before last, I lay in the woods under the sky, without 
 anything over me except my overcoat. The great trouble 
 here is from wood-ticks ; they get on to you and bury 
 their head in you, and you can't pull them out without 
 pulling their heads off, which makes a bad sore. The 
 only way is to cut them out. I have only had one fasten 
 on me yet, although I have stopped four or five before 
 they got hold. These trouble us a great deal more than 
 the rebel bullets. I must stop here, as it is getting late. 
 It is a certain thing that we shall be turned out under 
 arms about the time I get to sleep. 
 
 Good night. Love to all. W. 
 
 On the 24th of April, 1862, Captain Bartlett 
 was with his regiment at the outposts in front of 
 Yorktown. While at the outer line, kneeling, 
 and examining the enemy through his field-glass, 
 he received a wound from a sharp-shooter's rifle 
 which cost him his leg. His entry in his journal
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 41 
 
 is as follows : " While I was visiting the pick- 
 ets, watching the enemy with my glass, a sharp- 
 shooter hit me in the knee with a minie" ball, 
 shattering the bone down to my ankle. Dr. Hay- 
 ward amputated it four inches above the knee, 
 and I started for Baltimore in the same after- 
 noon." Only this and nothing more. 
 
 He was carried to the rear on a stretcher very 
 soon after he received the wound, and the opera- 
 tion was performed at once. The writer was with 
 him all the time. He looked up once and said, 
 " It 's rough, Frank, is n't it ? " and this was the 
 solitary word of complaint that escaped him. 
 
 His fine, slender figure had by this time filled 
 out to be a magnificent specimen of manly vigor, 
 and it was a pitiful sight to see it so maimed. 
 
 He remained in Baltimore several weeks, and 
 then went to his home in Massachusetts. He 
 recovered his strength rapidly, though his suffer- 
 ings were constant and often acute, but he bore 
 them with admirable cheerfulness and fortitude, 
 and he was able to get much enjoyment out of the 
 months he passed at home. He went to the class- 
 day of his class at Harvard, received his degree at 
 Commencement, and was treated with admiring 
 cordiality and attention wherever he went. The 
 following letters give some details of the manner 
 in which he received his wound, of the spirit in 
 which he accepted it, and of the progress of his 
 recovery, and also show his interest in his regi- 
 ient and his loyalty to it.
 
 42 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 4 
 
 BEFORE YOKKTOWN, VA., April 25, 1862. 
 C. L. BARTLETT, ESQ. : 
 
 My dear Sir, Yesterday morning the Twentieth 
 Regiment was detailed for picket duty. Captain Bart- 
 lett went out a little before noon to visit the advanced 
 posts. He found what he considered a good and safe 
 position for observing the enemy. He knelt down be- 
 hind a tree and watched their movements through a 
 giass. He had been watching them some ten minutes, 
 when he received a shot from a rifle in his left knee. 
 A litter was sent for him and he was brought to the 
 rear. When I got to him his color had not left him, 
 and he was suffering only at intervals, when spasms of 
 pain seized him for a moment, and quickly passed and 
 left him comparatively comfortable again. His thought- 
 fulness for others and self-forgetfulness were shown by 
 his repeatedly urging me to leave him, as I was suf- 
 fering from a slight lameness. He was carried to a 
 house near by, and then the surgeons gave him chloro- 
 form and examined his wound. Drs. Hayward and 
 Crehore of the Twentieth, Dr. Haven of the Fifteenth, 
 and Dr. Clark, a surgeon from Worcester, were unani- 
 mous in the opinion that amputation was not only 
 proper, but necessary. I urged upon them to be sure, 
 before proceeding, that there was no chance of recovery, 
 and that it would not do to delay for consultation with 
 other surgeons. 
 
 They assured me positively that there was no room 
 for doubt, and that the operation must be performed 
 jnmediately; that the ball had totally destroyed the 
 knee joint, and shivered and destroyed the bone of the 
 leg for six inches below ; furthermore that delay would
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 43 
 
 materially diminish the chances of recovery. The leg 
 was taken off by Dr. Hayward, in the lower third of the 
 portion above the knee. Examination made subse- 
 quently fully confirmed the opinions of the surgeons, 
 and Brigade Surgeons Crosby and Dougherty, and Dr 
 Liddell, Medical Director of the Division, who arrived 
 presently, pronounced everything well and wisely dono, 
 and every one of the surgeons were of the opinion that 
 your son had gone through the operation most favorably. 
 He suffered a good deal after he returned to conscious- 
 ness, but not to the point of faintness. His suffer- 
 ings arose mostly from the necessary dressings. He 
 bore the announcement of what had been done very 
 firmly, and told me that he had expected it. Every ex- 
 ertion was made to put him at once on his way to Wash- 
 ington, and he presently started for York River, in a 
 four horse ambulance, attended by Dr. Clark and my 
 servant, who is as gentle as a woman, and who has a 
 strong feeling of personal attachment for your son. 
 There went with him, also, seven or eight stout fellows 
 of his own company, to carry him on a litter, should the 
 motion of the ambulance increase his sufferings. 
 
 His color returned soon after the operation was ended, 
 his smile was ready and sweet, his eyes clear, the grasp 
 of his hand and the tone of his voice firm. I hardly 
 need tell you that he bore his fate with his own gallant 
 spirit, and that he did not break down for a moment. 
 His escort report that he arrived safely at the river, and 
 was there placed on board the Commodore. 
 
 To you who know so well my opinion of your son's 
 merits, and what close companionship has existed be- 
 tween us for six months, I need say little of the afflic-
 
 44 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 tion that this event causes me. The loss to the regi- 
 ment is terrible, and officers and men unite with me in 
 lamenting the misfortune. Your son was the most bril- 
 liant soldier I have known in the Volunteer Army, and 
 I anticipated for him the highest distinction. You have 
 my sincerest sympathy, you and Mrs. Bartlett and your 
 daughters, in this painful moment, and my love and ad- 
 miration for your son cause me to feel the most bitter 
 sorrow at this heavy calamity. 
 
 Very respectfully and truly yours, 
 
 F. W. PALFREY, Lieut.-coL, ComcTg. 
 The surgeons encourage me to believe that he will 
 be comparatively comfortable in a day or two. 
 
 FROM CAPTAIN BARTLETT's MOTHER. 
 
 BALTIMORE, May 8, 1862. 
 Thursday. 
 
 When this note may reach you, or where, 1 have no 
 idea, but I will "draw a bow at a venture," knowing you 
 will be very glad to hear of the progress of my patient. 
 Several days have passed since I wrote, and he has been 
 improving in general health and strength, and looking 
 more like himself than I supposed he would in so short 
 a time. The main cause of his troubles gives him al- 
 most constant twinges of pain, and he suffers much, al- 
 though he tries to make very light of it 
 
 Your last favor was written May 1st, but you have 
 since been on the move, and Frank misses your cheer- 
 ful, kindly missives. I had written thus far when the 
 postman left your note of the 3d, and I have just fin- 
 ished reading it, and will let the one to whom it is ad- 
 dressed dictate his own response.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 45 
 
 Mr DEAR FRANK, I have just heard read your short 
 note of the 3d, and am glad for your sake that you have 
 the little Colonel and Major back again. I am very 
 sorry that I did not see them when they passed through 
 here. I expected them every time the door bell rang 
 for three or four days. They probably had to go right 
 through. Give my love to the Colonel ; tell him I shall 
 hope to see him before long. Remember me to the 
 Major too. What do they do for horses ? I should like 
 to know where you are this morning. I hope your foot 
 did not trouble you when the advance was made. Were 
 you not taken by surprise ? 
 
 Your " Fourth of July cocktail " at Pitcher's looks more 
 practicable every day. I shall get to Boston before you, 
 though. I will have the house got ready and the table 
 spread against the time you come. I shall be round on 
 crutches (doubtful) in a week, at least that is my plan. 
 I am going to have a man here to measure me for them 
 to-day. Like being measured for a coffin, is it not? 
 Mother writes that last under protest. 
 
 My leg has given me a good deal of pain since yester- 
 day, owing to its being too tightly bandaged. The last 
 ligature is away, and it ought to heal rapidly now. The 
 foot that is gone pains me most. It would seem that 
 somebody made it their amusement playing " stick -knife " 
 on it a greater part of the time. I am much better able 
 to bear it now than when I was weak. I smoked my 
 first cigarette day before yesterday, winning thereby a 
 box of cigars from my cousin, who foolishly wagered that 
 amount that I would not smoke for three weeks. Do 
 you know it is just two weeks to-day since I " stopped " 
 %o neatly that pretty little bullet at just about this hour ?
 
 46 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 I think I am very well advanced. I wrote Little yes- 
 terday, and gave him a short lecture about his signature. 
 How does the boy Arthur get along? You must take 
 him under your special protection now that I am away. 
 I guess I will resign in favor of Mother. I must get 
 my foot into better discipline. I cannot have it going 
 on this way. Give a great deal of love to all the fellows, 
 and what you please for yourself, from your FRANK. 
 
 The above was jerked out between spasms of dread- 
 ful pain. The surgeon has been here since, and relieved 
 him somewhat, and assures me it is doing remarkably 
 well. 
 
 FROM CAPTAIN BARTLETT. 
 
 BALTIMORE, Sunday Morning, May 11. 
 I fear daily lest your kind disposition shall cause you 
 to take too much trouble in my behalf. I know that it 
 cannot be convenient for you to write me every day so 
 faithfully ; and much as I delight in your letters, I am 
 distressed by the thought that you are putting yourself 
 to too much trouble sometimes. I beg you won't feel 
 obliged to write every day, only when it is perfectly 
 
 convenient 
 
 At this point enter Dr. at " L. C." Exeunt writing 
 materials, etc., R. U. E., " with life." (Patient looking 
 very innocent.) 
 
 Dr. " Pulse a little fast this morning, probably from 
 sitting up." 
 
 Patient. " Yes sir, I suppose so." (At this point 
 enter second Dr., son of first, and the language becomes 
 technical.) .... 
 The scenes have been shifted (t. e., the bandages).
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 4? 
 
 The Drs. have retired, everything is going on well. 
 I am now at liberty to resume my writing, and make 
 those pulse move a little faster again. 
 
 I wish I were with you this pleasant Sunday morning, 
 or at least knew exactly where you were. 
 
 We hear of Franklin's and Sedgwick's Divisions being 
 engaged, and are anxious for particulars, but can get 
 none. The general report is, you were entirely vic- 
 torious, with the odds against you. We shall hear 
 soon. 
 
 I find my sword-arm is getting a little tired, and I 
 shall have to let mother vibrate her smoothly swinging 
 goose plume. (N. B. she writes with a quill.) 
 
 The weather is delightful and most favorable to me. 
 I see much people, now, daily. 
 
 I wish you would ask one Hayward, in your regiment, 
 if he intends to answer a letter that I wrote him some 
 months since, when I was first brought here. 
 
 Give a great deal of love to the Colonel and all the 
 fellows, and believe me as ever, 
 
 Yours most devotedly, 
 
 FRANK. 
 
 News this morning that Norfolk, navy-yard and all, 
 is taken. It may be true. All anxious to hear of your 
 movements. F. 
 
 P. S. Quite a long letter for the first attempt 
 isn't it ? 
 
 P. S. WRITTEN BY CAPTAIN BARTLETT's MOTHER. 
 
 Frank has left me little to say ; to be truthful, his pic- 
 ture should be shaded a little ; but he looks only on the 
 bright side.
 
 48 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 
 
 He is, I have no doubt, doing remarkably well ; so the 
 surgeon assures me every day. Still, he suffers intensely, 
 at times, and this has been a very hard day for him. 
 He has scarcely been free from pain a moment, and the 
 worst is in the poor shattered foot and leg which is 
 gone. He says, "Ask the Colonel if they gave my leg 
 Christian burial, for my foot torments me as if it were 
 ill at rest." 
 
 I had nearly forgotten to say, that att your letters 
 have been received, but not in the order in which they 
 were written. The last bears date May 4, 8 P. if., and 
 we are now anxiously looking for news from "West Point, 
 which is the last place where your Division is spoken of 
 as being engaged. 
 
 FROM CAPTAIN BARTLETT. 
 
 BALTIMORE, May 14. 
 
 Delighted by the receipt of two of your pleasant let- 
 ters this morning, bearing dates of the 7th, 8th, and 9th. 
 
 It comforted me to learn that " grim visaged war " 
 had " smoothed his wrinkled front " even a little ; and 
 that you were comparatively comfortable, and positively 
 in good spirits. 
 
 I was very anxious to hear from you after I heard 
 that Sedgwick's Division had been engaged at West 
 Point. Tell Arthur that I received his letter of the 8th 
 yesterday. 
 
 You are right in supposing that I am made as com- 
 fortable as is possible; everything imaginable is done 
 for my convenience and gratification. But they can t 
 occupy my mind so that it won't turn southward with a 
 longing, homesick feeling, mingled with a vain regret
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 49 
 
 at being snatched away just at the moment when we 
 were about to see something of glorious and victorious 
 war. 
 
 I take hardly any interest in the war news now, ex- 
 cepting that which immediately concerns you. I dread 
 positively to hear of a great victory, as it seems to put 
 narrower limits to the time that I must get well in, if I 
 would be " in at the death." I am far, mind you, from 
 complaining of my lot. I think I am indeed fortunate 
 in making so successful a recovery, and in reaching such 
 delightful quarters. But, still it is hard to banish the 
 feeling, that I was taken away without having effected 
 anything, and at a time when every one was most needed 
 
 at his post 
 
 With a great deal of love, I am always 
 
 Yours, 
 FRANK. 
 
 WINTHBOP, July 7, 1862. 
 
 My last date from you is Fair Oaks, June 25th. 
 How much has happened to you since then ! I am very 
 anxious to hear from you. I dread to look at the pa- 
 pers, lest I shall see the name of some one I love among 
 the " killed." I almost wish I could see yours among 
 the " slightly wounded," for then I could feel that you 
 were safe, and that I was about to see you 
 
 I have not any decided opinion as yet on this last 
 move. It seems to have been that movement laid down 
 in tactics as the most dangerous a change of front in 
 the presence of the enemy. 
 
 You seem to have fought the move through like tigers, 
 against great odds, and have made them pay very dearly
 
 50 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 for their attempted interruption. The Twentieth is 
 mentioned with especial honor for its steady and delib- 
 erate fire, etc., etc. 
 
 I hope the report of " Twentieth, Captain Lowell, 
 killed," may not prove true. It would be very sad to 
 have it confirmed. 
 
 I told you in one of my last letters of the "set-back 
 that my leg seemed to have received. I told you it 
 was n't dangerous. I was right. It has gone on mend- 
 ing ever since, and now I think is as well as it was 
 before, and I think I have less pain. So perhaps I did 
 it good by " tapping it." .... 
 
 You speak of my leaving the Twentieth. Many 
 friends here have offered to use their influence to place 
 me at the head of one of the new regiments. I have 
 been very grateful for the offers, of course, but have in- 
 variably discountenanced them. You know that I had 
 rather be a captain in the Twentieth than colonel of 
 any regiment that may be raised. 
 
 Promotion in the Twentieth would have been very 
 pleasant to me when it brought me nearer you. But, 
 since the 21st of October last, my happiness could not 
 have been increased by the addition of the golden leaf. 
 
 No man is half a soldier who does not seek promo- 
 tion, but if mine should be occasioned by the execution 
 of your oft-uttered threat, to " leave the service when 
 Richmond is ours," I hope you will believe that it 
 would have lost its greatest charm. 
 
 In my heart (as I used to hint to you), I firmly be- 
 lieve, and more earnestly hope, that we shall take our 
 honorable discharges together, when the " scarred and 
 war-worn veterans " of the Twentieth shall be mustered 
 out of service on Boston Common. Nous verrons.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 51 
 
 .... No one here suspects my impatience to rejoin 
 you, or my unfounded regrets at the tardiness of a re- 
 covery which has in fact been unusually rapid. 
 Such is poor human nature 
 
 God keep you in safety through the midst of danger, 
 is the daily prayer of Yours, 
 
 FRANK. 
 
 On the 6th of September, 1862, he was offered 
 the command of a camp at Pittsfield, Massachu- 
 setts, known as Camp Bfiggs, where the Forty- 
 ninth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infan- 
 try, a nine months' regiment, was then assem- 
 bling. He accepted the offer with some reluc- 
 tance, and assumed command of the post on the 
 20th of the same month. His going to Pittsfield 
 had an important influence upon his life, for it 
 was there that he met the lady whom he married 
 at the end of the war, and there that he made his 
 home for most of the years of peace which he 
 lived to see. Mr. Johns, who has told extremely 
 well the story of " Life with the Forty-ninth 
 Massachusetts Volunteers," thus records the im- 
 pression he made at first sight : " His appearance 
 denotes much of intelligent energy, and his gen- 
 tlemanly manner, his soldierly bearing (for he 
 looks the soldier even on crutches), and our sym- 
 pathy with hirn in his great loss, have made him 
 at once a universal favorite." The favorable im- 
 pression which he made at first was deepened as 
 officers and men came to know him more. His
 
 52 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 popularity was based upon a sense of his merit, 
 and grew steadily, notwithstanding the personal 
 reserve which was natural to him, and to which 
 the average native American volunteer was quite 
 unaccustomed. The way in which he drilled the 
 men in the manual, without crutches, and going 
 through each motion with the musket himself, 
 was very remarkable, and seems almost incredible 
 in the telling. Mr. Johns says, writing when the 
 Bight was a frequent occurrence : " It is a treat to 
 see that man go through the manual of arms. 
 He puts such a finish, such a vim to every motion. 
 For two hours at a time he will stand on that re- 
 maining leg, till half of us believe he never had 
 any need of the one buried at Yorktown, but it 
 was only a superfluous member or mere orna- 
 ment. If the Colonel (I will call him such) 
 needs rest, he takes it as a part of the exercise, so 
 we cannot tell which is manual of arms and which 
 rest. The cords of that right leg must stand out 
 like great whip-lashes. There is will about all 
 this. It is this quiet, intense determination, this 
 fixedness of will, that makes us desire Colonel 
 Bartlett, with but one leg, for our commander, 
 over any other man with the full complement of 
 limbs. Somehow or other, we cannot tell why, 
 we believe that he will not be the mere buffet of 
 circumstances, but will ride over and lead us over 
 all difficulties." The Forty-ninth was a regiment 
 in which the right of election of oflicers was rec-
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 53 
 
 ognized. The formal election took place on the 
 10th of November, 1862, and he was elected 
 Colonel, receiving all the votes cast. The elec- 
 tion took place at Camp Wool, at Worcester, 
 Massachusetts, to which point the regiment had 
 moved about ten days before. A short time 
 after, he appeared with his first artificial leg. 
 
 On the 28th of November, the regiment left 
 Worcester, and proceeded by cars and boat to 
 New York, from which it moved, on the 4th of 
 the following month, to Camp Banks, on Long 
 Island, Before it left the city, the regiment, in 
 full dress, made a parade march up Broadway. 
 The "Home Journal" of the day published an 
 article headed, " A Colonel with a Crutch," from 
 which the following extracts are taken, to show 
 how Colonel Bartlett impressed a spectator at 
 that time : 
 
 " Our own chief object of interest was the Colonel in 
 command, armed, as we above mentioned, with the very 
 unaccustomed weapon of a crutph. 
 
 " The Colonel .... was mounted on a Vermont horse. 
 .... The equipments, as well as the limbs of the rider, 
 were apparently all complete, each long boot with its 
 spur riding gracefully in its stirrup. Pistols and sword 
 were in their places. At the horseman's back, however, 
 poised like the long spear at the back of the lancer, 
 swung the strange implement which told the story, a 
 long crutch with velvet handle, betraying the wooden 
 leg for which it stood ready to do service With
 
 54 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 the wounds of his amputation healed, the heroic soldier 
 was now returning to active duty, leading his regiment to 
 the field with an alacrity that was little like a cripple." 
 
 The Colonel was already getting a strong hold 
 upon his regiment. In the Long Island camp, on 
 the 6th of January, Mr. Johns wrote : " Daily 
 he draws the reins of discipline tighter, but with 
 such judgment that we are learning subordination 
 without complaining." At this same camp he 
 had some experience of a command larger than 
 that of a regiment. When General Banks sailed 
 for New Orleans with the bulk of the forces des- 
 tined for operations in that neighborhood, a force 
 of several thousand men was left behind for a 
 while, under General Andrews. General An- 
 drews went to Boston twice before this part of 
 the expeditionary force left New York, and each 
 time he left Colonel Bartlett, though a junior 
 colonel, in command. One of these absences 
 lasted for six days, and thus the young Colonel 
 was placed in a position of much responsibility 
 and of no little labor. The following letters date 
 from this period, and describe his life, and the 
 manner in which, at the age of twenty-two, he 
 exerted himself to perform every duty which de- 
 volved upon him. 
 
 HEADQUARTERS REMAINDER BANKS' EXPEDITION, 
 No. 194 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, December 31, 1862. 
 
 .... As regards myself, I ride with ease, hardly 
 frith comfort. My horse is wild, fractious, and stubborn.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 55 
 
 He is a valuable beast, of great strength, endurance, and 
 mettle. But I am not exactly in condition now to break 
 a wild brute. He rears with me, jumps, etc. My 
 friends beg me not to ride him, and I have not mounted 
 him for a week. My man, a splendid horseman, rides 
 him hard every day, and is breaking him. I am looking 
 for another one, more gentle, and may keep both. It is 
 a delightful sensation to me, to move about on a horse 
 after hobbling around on crutches so long. 
 
 You will wonder at the heading of this letter. Gen- 
 eral Andrews sent for me and desired me to take com- 
 mand during his absence of a week or so, notwithstand- 
 ing my telling him that my commission must be one of 
 the youngest of the eight still here. So that my com- 
 mand is just now about eight thousand, rather ridicu- 
 lous, is n't it? .... My regiment I am getting into 
 excellent order. I drill the non-coms, in the manual, 
 an hour every morning, standing on one leg. In the 
 afternoon, I drill the whole line in the manual an hour 
 and a half. I visit the guard every night after twelve, 
 to see that the officer of the guard and day are doing 
 their duty, etc., etc. The officers and men are all inter- 
 ested in their work and everything goes well 
 
 HEADQUARTERS REMAINDER BANKS' EXPEDITION, 
 No. 194 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, January 3, 1863. 
 
 .... A great many perplexing questions have come 
 up during the week, involving heavy responsibilities, 
 the ordering of the various ships to sea, telegraphing 
 with the Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary of 
 War in regard to duties on coal, etc., etc. 
 
 I have kept a stiff upper lip. Imagine me being
 
 56 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 asked for advice and authority to do this and that, by 
 Commodore Van Brunt, Commodore Vanderbilt, U. S. 
 quartermasters here, and "sich like." In cases of 
 doubt, which have required my authority and decision, 
 I have kept an old maxim of mine before me. Do that, 
 which according to your impartial judgment, tends most 
 to promote the " good of the service." 
 
 It has carried me safely through so far 
 
 On the 24th of January, 1863, the regiment 
 sailed for New Orleans in the steamer Illinois. 
 They had very bad weather for a week, and 
 the country-bred men of Western Massachusetts 
 who filled the ranks suffered excessively from 
 seasickness. When the vessel had passed Key 
 West, and had gotten into smoother water, the 
 Colonel did a wise thing for the health of his 
 men. On the 1st of February, Sunday, he writes 
 in his journal : " As cleanliness is next to godli- 
 ness, I think I have observed the day very well. 
 I have had every man in the regiment thoroughly 
 washed. I had one company at a time marched 
 up forward, stripped, and a stream of salt water 
 from the large force pump and hose played over 
 them I sate out forward in the sun super- 
 intending it all the morning until three o'clock." 
 
 On the 7th of February the regiment reached 
 New Orleans, and at once moved up the river 
 to Carrolton, where General Emory's Division 
 was encamped, but it did not disembark and go 
 into camp until the 9th. Things must have
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 57 
 
 been poorly managed in the Department of the 
 Gulf at that time, for Colonel Bartlett records on 
 the 7th that supper was the first meal he ate 
 that day, and again on the llth : " I had no way 
 of getting breakfast this morning when I got 
 up, so I went without. The same at dinner-time, 
 so I went without, and till six P. M. I did not 
 put a mouthful of anything to eat or drink in my 
 
 mouth I wonder what a row there would 
 
 be if a private soldier 'had to go without eating 
 for twenty-four hours. I am glad to find I can 
 do it with ease in case of need." 
 
 On the 14th of the same month he estab- 
 lished in his camp the practice of the field, staff, 
 and company officers reporting to the Colonel at 
 reveille*. He had seen this custom followed in 
 the camp of the Twentieth Regiment, and there 
 learned its value. 
 
 The camp was on low ground, and the rains, 
 which were frequent, laid it under water. On 
 the 15th of February, it was a foot under water, 
 and the ridge on which the Colonel's tent stood, 
 was, he says, actually the only land in sight. 
 The state of the weather made it hard for every 
 one, and interfered with work. It was little bet- 
 ter in the tents than outside. 
 
 On the 16th, orders came to proceed by steamer 
 to Baton Rouge. It was dark when the embar- 
 kation began. Colonel Bartlett stood up over 
 the gangway superintending the work on the bag-
 
 58 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 gage, and at about two o'clock in the morn- 
 ing he fell asleep sitting on the rail, and it was 
 not till four in the morning, when everything 
 was on board, that he left the deck. On the 
 18th, the regiment arrived at Baton Rouge, and 
 encamped on very good ground as a part of the 
 first brigade of Augur's Division. 
 
 On the 22d of February, he was general offi- 
 cer of the day for the first time, and he was six 
 hours in the saddle visiting the outposts. The 
 fatiguing duty did not tire him so much that 
 he did not find time and disposition to draw a 
 very intelligible sketch of the roads in the neigh- 
 borhood, and of the position of the troops. On 
 the 24th he writes : " I should be content to have 
 it rain to-morrow, that I might write all day. 
 Otherwise my duties self-imposed keep me busy 
 all the time. I am glad enough to go to bed 
 at nine o'clock, and sorry enough to hear the 
 roll of the drum which makes me get up at 
 six A. M The regiment is improving con- 
 stantly. I keep at work on them all the time. 
 It is consoling to know and feel that I am doing 
 the country such good service as making soldiers 
 for her." 
 
 By the 4th of March he had brought the regi- 
 ment into such condition that they not only ap- 
 peared to advantage on parade and at review, 
 standing steadily and marching well, but also 
 drilled to his satisfaction in charging and firing,
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 59 
 
 and he told them " if they would only do as well, 
 keep as steady, and fire as coolly in a real action 
 as they did then, not fire until they got the word 
 from me, no matter how near the enemy might 
 approach them, when they did fire, aim low, at 
 the enemy's knees (if near), they need not be 
 afraid of anything under heaven in the shape of 
 an enemy." And he adds: "I only hope I shall 
 not get shot until after I have had the regiment 
 in one good fight, for really they seem to be so 
 entirely dependent upon me, that if I should get 
 knocked over at first, I don't like to think what 
 would become of them." 
 
 On the 7th of March, he conducted a wagon 
 train a few miles beyond the outposts, himself 
 commanding the escort, which comprised his own 
 regiment, a troop of cavalry, and a section of 
 artillery. All his dispositions were made with 
 much judgment and intelligent care, and the 
 expedition returned safe and successful. 
 
 On the 14th of March, the army began its 
 march towards Port Hudson. Colonel Bartlett 
 kept his men from plundering, and they thought 
 it was hard. He writes : " The men made sad 
 work with the poultry and stock. This army will 
 be demoralized if this is allowed to go on. My 
 regiment think it hard that they are not al- 
 lowed to go in and plunder, when everybody 
 else does ; and it is. They not only steal poultry 
 and other live meat, but in some cases even go
 
 60 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 into the houses and take the food off the table, 
 and steal jewelry and other valuables. I will 
 Bhoot the first man I see doing it, and take the 
 consequences." Crippled as he was, he was very 
 tough in those days, and very patient of fatigue. 
 "I had been in the saddle since three in the 
 morning, twelve hours, but it made me laugh to 
 myself at hearing other officers complain of being 
 all tired out, etc." This movement upon Port 
 Hudson was not attended with any fighting of 
 consequence, and the troops soon returned to 
 Baton Rouge ; but the Forty-ninth Regiment had 
 assigned to it some fatiguing duty in the way, 
 especially by acting as a part of the advanced 
 guard in the retreat, which it was supposed that 
 the enemy would attempt to interrupt at a bayou 
 which crossed the line of retreat. Ill-judged 
 orders brought the command nearly to the ex- 
 haustion point, and fatigue and exposure very 
 nearly put their colonel on the sick list. On the 
 18th he wrote: " I feel very miserably this morn- 
 ing. It was a struggle to get up. Very weak 
 and dizzy. I hope it is not sickness coming. I 
 have lost all appetite, and only eat because it is 
 a duty, not that I am hungry." A little later, 
 on the same day, occur these affecting lines : " I 
 wonder if these men who go to the hospital and 
 off duty feel half as weak and ill as I do just now. 
 I suffer more in case of an attack of weakness 
 or illness than when I had two legs. It takes all
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 61 
 
 the strength and vigor of a healthy man to drag 
 round this ' ball and chain ' of a leg. My leg has 
 pained me more than usual lately. No one shall 
 know it, though." The instances are extremely 
 rare in which, even in the confidence of his pri- 
 vate journal, he makes any reference to the loss of 
 his leg. On the 24th of April, 1863, he writes : 
 " Just one year ago to-day at this hour, eleven 
 A. M., I lost my leg at Yorktown. It was just such 
 a day as this. It seems a short year, notwith- 
 standing all the suffering I have gone through." 
 With these few words he leaves the subject. 
 
 His life went on busily, and with little comfort, 
 and little pleasure other than the consciousness of 
 doing his duty and improving his regiment. He 
 read the service to his men on Sundays, accom- 
 plished them in shooting, drilled them constantly, 
 and by such little matters as causing them to 
 wear white gloves on parade he gave them an air, 
 and made them feel increased pride in their per- 
 sonal appearance. 
 
 In a letter to Governor Andrew, written at this 
 time, in reply to one in which the Governor re- 
 quested him to appoint a chaplain, he showed hia 
 usual sense and tact : 
 
 The position of chaplain I consider one of the most 
 difficult to fill, and I have seen such evils follow from 
 the presence of inefficient or unworthy chaplains (not in 
 Massachusetts regiments), that I have hesitated to nom-
 
 62 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 inate any one for that position, unless I found some one 
 who was qualified, both in character and ability. Such 
 an one has not offered yet. Your correspondent is mis- 
 informed as to the observance of the Sabbath in this 
 regiment. There are the regular duties of the day, such 
 as guard-mounting, Sunday morning inspection, and 
 dress parade, which are never omitted ; but besides these 
 it is a day of rest. 
 
 I have always afforded every opportunity for the 
 men to attend divine worship on that day. I have also 
 read the services myself on that day to all who desired 
 to attend, it being one of the duties of the commanding 
 officer in the absence of a chaplain. 
 
 In the matter of the white gloves, also, he 
 showed his tact. Mr. Johns says that the men 
 did not purchase them without some dissatisfac- 
 tion, but that the Colonel did not compel any 
 man to purchase them, but that he understood 
 that he sent for one of the malcontents and gave 
 him a pair, and that he heard of no trouble after- 
 wards. It may be remarked that th.5 Forty-ninth 
 Regiment was not only a nine months' regiment, 
 but that it seems to have been made up of men 
 who did not expect to forego any of the usual 
 privileges of citizens while they were in the mili- 
 tary service of the United States, and thought 
 that all questions arising in camp should be set- 
 tled by a town meeting as much as in the vil- 
 lages they came from, and that to properly dis- 
 cipline such men was a task of peculiar deli-
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 63 
 
 "!acy. The neatness and cleanness which Colonel 
 Bartlett taught his men to observe not only im- 
 proved or preserved their health, but increased 
 their self-respect. He gave his personal atten- 
 tion to every work upon which his men were em- 
 ployed. Mr. Johns says : " The soldierly neat- 
 ness of our Colonel is apparent in the superiority 
 of our rifle-pits over those thrown up by other 
 regiments. With spade in hand, he showed us 
 how the work should be done. Our pits are as 
 finished as if they were parts of a permanent for- 
 tification." 
 
 From the 12th to the 15th of May, he notes 
 that he is not well, and then for four days he 
 makes no regular entry, but writes thus in pen- 
 cil: "Never felt worse in my life. Never took 
 so much medicine. Worse and worse until Tues- 
 day, May 19th." Then he writes : 
 
 Moved into the house near my tent I am 
 
 threatened with typhoid. Horrible pain in my head all 
 day. Orders to-night, unfortunately, for us to march at 
 five A. M. to-morrow. Dr. Winsor (the regimental sur- 
 geon) says it is impossible for me to go. I must go. I 
 know the risk is great, but I have got to take it. If I 
 get killed, or wounded, or die of fever, people will say it 
 was rash, etc. I know my duty, though, better than any 
 one else. Colonel Chapin has offered me the use of a 
 
 spring wagon to ride in. I shall go in that 
 
 Wednesday, May 20. Got up at five. Could hardly 
 Stand. The regiment started. Dr. Winsor begged me
 
 64 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 not to go. The carriage which Colonel Chapin was to 
 send did not come. Dr. W. rode on to see Colonel 
 Chapin, and find out if it was coming. Meanwhile I 
 got on my horse and started. I had got out about a 
 mile when I met the Doctor coming back. He said the 
 carriage was broken, but would be along soon ; made 
 me get off and go into the nearest house and rest. I 
 waited and waited hours, and then got word that the 
 wagon had by some mistake gone on, and was by this 
 time with the train. There was nothing to be done but 
 go home or keep on horseback. I resolved to try the 
 latter, and go as far as I could. It was now the very 
 heat of the day. I seemed to feel better, and kept on 
 to the Bayou Montesino of historic renown. I stopped 
 at Mr. Pike's house, where I was received very cor- 
 dially. I stayed to dinner, and passed the whole day 
 there very pleasantly. About four, a man came with the 
 buggy for me ; he had been looking everywhere ; Colo- 
 nel Chapin had sent him back, not to return without me. 
 So Steadman rode Billy and led Ned ; and, having bade 
 good-by to my kind friends (though rebels), we started 
 on our long ride. The dust was several inches deep. 
 We r.eached the regiment, encamped in a beautiful spot, 
 about dark. The hearty cheers which they gave when 
 they saw me come into camp were pleasing. They had 
 been very blue all day, the officers said, and kept saying, 
 " If we only had the Colonel along ! " I had a pretty 
 good sleep, and felt pretty well, considering the Doctor 
 had said I would have a high fever if I attempted to 
 come. 
 
 Thursday, May 21. Ordered to move at six A. M. I 
 rode in the buggy ; kept the horses near, in case I should
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 65 
 
 want them. We had advanced about three and a half 
 miles, when we were saluted by some shells from rebel 
 batteries ahead. I immediately got on my horse Billy. 
 I had to be pretty careful to keep my balance, as I fell 
 very shaky still. 
 
 It was fortunate for the regiment that Colonel 
 Bartlett's determination caused him to be present 
 with them upon this occasion ; for, though the 
 affair of this day, dignified with the name of the 
 Battle of Plain's Store, was not a serious one. 
 and cost the regiment only three men wounded 
 slightly, yet it was the regiment's first experience 
 of battle, and they were threatened for many 
 hours with immediate attack, and were exposed 
 for a part of the time to artillery fire. What was 
 worse, an ill- disciplined and feebly commanded 
 nine months' regiment, which was in front of the 
 Forty-ninth, broke to the rear and rushed through 
 its centre company while Bartlett was endeavor- 
 ing with his regiment to stop the rout, and so 
 divided the right wing from the left. He gave 
 his regiment a valuable lesson by drilling them 
 in the manual, at a moment which could be so 
 used, and thus restored or increased their self-pos- 
 session. It would seem that the exertion called 
 for and gallantly made was good for him also, as 
 for the next few days, and till he was wounded 
 in the assault upon Port Hudson on the 27th, his 
 journal contains no reference to his health. The 
 following letters give many interesting details of 
 5
 
 66 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 his camp life, before the first assault upon Port 
 
 Hudson : 
 
 CAMP BANKS, BATON ROUGE, 
 February 21, 1863. 
 
 .... I am gradually getting this regiment into shape. 
 Field, staff, and company officers report to me every 
 morning immediately after reveille", as we of yore did 
 to " Little Bill Lee," and you. All the little " dodges " 
 that we picked up together I am working in. Any first 
 sergeant knows, that if he should appear on guard- 
 mounting or dress parade, with his white gloves soiled, 
 he would have to take that lozenge out of his chev- 
 rons. I have only had to reduce two first sergeants 
 since I took the regiment. That for " absence without 
 leave." Ben sends me an orderly every morning, re- 
 splendent with brass and blacking 
 
 HEADQUARTERS FORTY-NINTH REGIMENT, M. V. M. 
 CAMP BANKS, BATON ROUGE, LA., March 4, 1863. 
 
 DEAR MOTHER, I wrote you last on the 28th. 
 Sunday, March 1, was a beautiful day. Ben and I 
 took a ride in the afternoon. Went down to the river, 
 up to General Dwight's quarters. Fletcher Abbott and 
 Charley Dwight rode home with us. I stopped at the 
 Fiftieth Regiment. Sam Duncan is not here yet; three 
 of their companies are down the river at quarantine ; he 
 is with them, and the Lieutenant-colonel. Colonel Tom. 
 Chickering called to see me after I got back. Dress 
 parade was the best we ever had. I felt very proud of 
 them, the result of my instruction and discipline on 
 them. General Augur came up to-day, March 2. I 
 Baw him a few minutes. 
 
 March 3. Beautiful weather still. In the evening
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 67 
 
 we sat out around the fire in the rear of my tent, 
 smoking our pipes ; bright moonlight ; the nights are 
 very cold, although the days are so hot. 
 
 March 4. This morning orders came for a review 
 in " heavy marching order," by General Augur. I 
 cautioned the men to " polish up," and at half past two 
 we turned out, as fine a looking line as you often see. 
 The men stood very steadily, and marched very well. 
 After going back to camp and leaving the knapsacks, 
 etc., I took them out to practice with blank cartridges. 
 At first they were nervous, and did poorly, but after 
 I had given them a very severe talking to, I tried them 
 again at charging in line, and they did it splendidly. 
 Their fire by battalion was like one gun. I then formed 
 a hollow square, and fired from all sides. My horse, 
 inside the square, behaved beautifully. I don't care 
 to see any better drilling than they did after my lec- 
 ture. After we came into camp I closed column and 
 explained to them that if they would only do as well 
 as that in real action, keep cool, and not fire until they 
 were sure they had the word from me, no matter how 
 near the enemy approached when they did fire, aim at 
 their opponents' knees (if near), there was no enemy 
 in the world that could stand against them, etc. 
 
 I hope they will remember all I said. They prom- 
 ised, and were very much excited, and cheered loudly 
 for the drill. There is nothing more important than 
 to accustom men to firing, and getting used to the noise. 
 What I taught them this afternoon was of more use to 
 them, and will do them more good than all the brig- 
 ade drills under Colonel Chapin, with unheard of and 
 Useless movements.
 
 68 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 This regiment is so entirely dependent upon me alone, 
 I hope I shan't get hit, for I dread to think what would 
 become of them if I should get put hors du combat. 
 
 General Dwight has been trying to get my regiment 
 in his brigade ; he wrote to Banks about it, but Augur 
 won't consent to lose it. 
 
 I hasten to get this in a mail which leaves for New 
 Orleans to-day. With much love, 
 
 W. F. B. 
 
 HEADQUARTERS FORTY-NINTH REGIMENT, M. V. M. 
 CAMP BANKS, BATON ROUGE, LA. 
 
 DEAR MOTHER : .... 
 
 March 5. Splendid weather still. I wish I was in 
 the brigade of some general instead of Colonel Chapin. 
 
 Met Chapin in the afternoon. He said Augur com- 
 plimented my regiment and the One Hundred and 
 Sixteenth very highly. Went to bed before tattoo, 
 pretty tired. 
 
 Saturday, March 7. Order came this morning before 
 I was up, to go out with my regiment as escort and 
 guard to wagon train outside the lines. There reported 
 to me quite a little force for the expedition, which I dis- 
 posed of as follows : In advance I sent a troop of cavalry, 
 McGee's Massachusetts, armed with carbines and sabres. 
 Next, seven companies of the Forty-ninth Regiment, 
 under Lieutenant-colonel Sumner. Next, a section of a 
 battery of regulars, Glosson's Battery, twelve-pounders, 
 rifled. Then came the train of seventy-five wagons, 
 reaching half a mile. In rear of these, three companies 
 of the Forty-ninth, under Major Plunkett, as rear 
 guard. The whole command extended nearly a mile.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 69 
 
 I rode ahead with the cavalry advance guard. It was 
 quite a pretty little force. Captain Hodge, Assistant 
 Quartermaster, U. S. A., had immediate charge of the 
 wagon train. "We marched about three miles beyond 
 the outposts, fairly into the enemy's country. The 
 plantation where we were going for wood, dried and 
 corded, belonged to a Dr. Laycock. It covers about a 
 thousand acres. He raises splendid sugar, molasses, and 
 cotton. 
 
 Just before we got to the place, the Clay Cut road, 
 which we were on, turns to the right, and you approach 
 the plantation through a thick belt of woods by a narrow 
 avenue. 
 
 I sent half a dozen troopers up the Clay Cut road 
 half a mile, to halt and keep on the look out. I sent 
 one company of the Forty-ninth up the same road quar- 
 ter of a mile, to support them, give alarm, and resist at- 
 tack. I then rode through the woods with the cavalry, 
 and found everything clear. The house stands in the 
 middle of a large clearing of fifty acres of perfectly level 
 land, a fine mansion, newer and in better repair than 
 most of the southern houses I have seen. The owner 
 was on the verandah when we rode up. He is a pro- 
 fessed Union man, has a safeguard from the General, 
 etc. While waiting for the column to come up, he in- 
 vited me and the officers who were with me, two of 
 General Augur's staff, Ben and Dr. Rice, to go in and 
 take some whiskey. 
 
 The others went in ; I went on with the cavalry to the 
 other side of the clearing, where the wood of many years' 
 seasoning was piled. It was near the sugar-house, 
 vhich was filled with sugar and molasses. Here I
 
 70 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 posted the infantry and artillery, and went with a few 
 of the cavalry to the farther sides to reconnoitre. An 
 old darkey told me that five rebel cavalry men stopped 
 him in the morning, a little while before we got there, 
 and asked him if there had been any Federal pickets 
 there lately. I divided the cavalry into three parts, 
 guarding the three approaches to the place, and kept 
 one squad with me. I posted the artillery where it 
 could hold two roads, and let the men rest on their arms, 
 while the teams were being loaded. This took about an 
 hour and a half. When we were ready to return, I 
 started the rear guard, now become the advance, then 
 the teams, then the artillery and infantry, and after they 
 were well off, I drew in the outposts and videttes and 
 followed with the cavalry. I dare say the enemy was 
 watching us all the time, but wisely determined not to 
 molest us. I was rather hoping they would, for I was 
 all prepared for it, and had a very pretty little force 
 under my command. We got back to camp about four 
 p. M., after a very pleasant little trip into the country, 
 accomplishing all we went out for, and returning without 
 loss. The men got their canteens filled with rich New 
 Orleans syrup, and sugar enough to sweeten their coffee 
 .for many days. 
 
 Sunday, March 8. A beautiful day. In the after- 
 noon Ben and I took a ride down to the town. A 
 great many troops have come up lately. I suppose we 
 shall move up the river before long. After dress parade 
 I formed a hollow square and read the services. The 
 Doctor dined with us to-night. We had a good beef- 
 steak, fried potatoes, onions, tea, and rice. I don't know 
 more you could ask for. For breakfast this morn-
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 71 
 
 ing I had the same thing you did, fried hasty pudding, 
 with better molasses. To-morrow morning it will be 
 fried rice, and the next day fried hominy, then back to 
 Indian pudding again. A variety you see. 
 I am very well all over. Love to all. 
 
 Affectionately, W. F. B. 
 
 March 9. Orders to move at once, with two days' 
 cooked and five uncooked rations. No baggage or tents ; 
 sixty rounds of ammunition per man. I don't know 
 where we are going, I suppose Port Hudson. 
 
 Love to all. Good-by. W. 
 
 HEADQUARTERS FORTY-NINTH EEGIMENT M. V. M. 
 CAMP BANKS, March 24, 1863. 
 
 MY DEAR MOTHER : This is the first time I have 
 had, when I could get at any paper, to write you since 
 our return -from Port Hudson. I will copy from my 
 journal which I took with me. I wrote you last on 
 the 12th. 
 
 That day were reviewed Grover's and Emory's Divis- 
 ions. It took till one o'clock from eight. I saw Gen- 
 eral Andrews a few minutes. He has been made Chief 
 of Staff to General Banks. A very good thing. He is 
 just the man Banks needs. Spoke to General Banks a 
 few minutes. After the review, I rode over to the camp 
 of the Rhode Island Cavalry, and " drew," by simply re- 
 ceipting for it, a fine McClellan saddle and bridle. By 
 the way, I wish, father, you would go to Baker's and tell 
 him that the saddle and bridle he sold me at such a big 
 price is a swindle. The brass parts are iron merely 
 covered over with a flimsy plating of brass foil, which 
 peels off, in pieces, making it look worse than noth-
 
 72 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 ing ; besides, in the case of the bits, scratching and cut- 
 ting the horse's face. The leather, too, is very poor, 
 many of the straps breaking at the least strain. Baker 
 will have to look out for his reputation and custom. If 
 I were he I would not want my name stamped on such 
 a sham affair. This one that I have drawn is just as 
 good leather; the buckles and bits of blued steel. Now 
 all I want is my second horse, and my " establishment " 
 is complete. I have not used the new saddle myself; 
 it is for my groom Vantassel. I have been looking 
 for a good horse ever since I got out here ; have not 
 found him yet. I don't expect, or care, to get as fine a 
 one as my black beauty, only a strong, steady horse for 
 the groom, to go with me when I ride. I would ride 
 the second one into action, too, so as not to get mine 
 shot. The mess pail reached me last week, much to my 
 delight. I did not expect it so soon. It is perfectly 
 splendid. Just what I wanted. I never saw a better 
 one. The tea, too, is so much better than what we have 
 had to drink, I wish you had sent more of it. We 
 live in great style now. This morning for instance, I 
 don't want a better breakfast. Nice dip-toast, coffee, 
 fried hasty pudding, " crispy," better than you can make 
 it at home ! The other night I made a corn-cake, 
 merely poured boiling water on the meal, a little salt, 
 and stood it up in front of the fire to bake. It was very 
 nice indeed, and with butter, and honey " drawn " from 
 some neighboring bee-hive, was about as good feed as 
 they make in these quarters. "We don't always live like 
 this. Sometimes it is nothing but dry bread and mo- 
 lasses for days. 
 
 In regard to my saddle, and riding, I have got it well
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 73 
 
 arranged. You know the upper edge of my wooden leg, 
 coming against the hard saddle, used to cut through my 
 pants every time I rode. I had patches of cloth put 
 ou, and afterwards patches of leather, but it even cut 
 through these, by riding two or three hours. I then got 
 a leather padded covering which fits on the seat of the 
 saddle, making the saddle look more dressy and finished, 
 and at the same time covering the wood, so that with a 
 leather patch on my pants now, it does not wear through 
 at all. Fletcher Abbott gave me the leather saddle- 
 cover. To go back to my journal. 
 
 Friday, March 13. Howard Dwight called to see me 
 this afternoon. Grover's Division has started. We 
 shall start to-morrow. 
 
 Saturday, March 14. Got the order at midnight to 
 start at three A. M. It made a wild picture in the dark 
 morning, the camp fires blazing high, surrounded by dark 
 forms. A little piece of the old moon just rising in the 
 east. We bade good-by to the camp, marched through 
 the town, and about daylight struck the Bayou Sara 
 road towards Port Hudson. We knew then for the first 
 time in which direction we were going. 
 
 It was very pleasant marching in the cool of the 
 morning through the heavy woods. The road was per- 
 fectly straight, and we could see it narrowing until the 
 trees on each side seemed to meet, miles ahead. About 
 nine A. M. we reached the river, Bayou Montesino. 
 Two bridges crossed it, a pontoon and a plank. At this 
 time, General Banks passed through the lines to the 
 front. All was silence. I could not help thinking of 
 the time, nearly a year ago, when we were marching in 
 the aame way, on a road very similar, towards Yorktown,
 
 74 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 when McClellan passed along through the army, aud for 
 miles and miles the cheers were deafening. We halted 
 at the bridge some time for the wagons to get over. At 
 noon we halted near a farm-house, fourteen miles from 
 Port Hudson. The men made sad work with the poul- 
 try and stock. This army will be demoralized, if this 
 pillaging is allowed to go on. My regiment think it 
 hard that I won't let them go in and plunder when 
 every body else is doing it. These marauders not only 
 steal poultry and other live meat, but in some cases even 
 go into the houses, and take the food off the table, steal 
 jewelry, and other valuables. I believe in "living on 
 the enemy's country," but the beef and other food should 
 be taken by the proper officers and issued to the troops 
 as it is required, not slaughtered recklessly and left un- 
 touched to waste. Besides, it is the moral effect on 
 troops, if they are allowed to steal and kill, each one for 
 himself. They soon become lawless and ungovernable, 
 an armed mob. 
 
 My regiment shall not pillage in this way, if every 
 other regiment in this army does. 
 
 These people will be likely to favor the advance of a 
 federal army, if their houses are to be ransacked, furni- 
 ture broken, etc., by a mob of soldiers, every time a brig- 
 ade passes their door. Banks must publish some severe 
 order to stop this thing, or I would n't give much for his 
 army in a month's time. 
 
 (Since writing the above a week ago, an order has 
 been issued to remedy this evil. It is not severe enough 
 yet.) 
 
 We marched a few miles farther and went into biv- 
 ouac, in a large open field, and pitched the shelter tents.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 75 
 
 I had been in the saddle since three in the morning, 
 twelve hours, but it made me laugh to myself, at hearing 
 other mounted officers complain of "being all tired out," 
 etc. I found a good place for the horses in a barn near 
 by, and then lay down on the grass and fell asleep, 
 waiting for the wagon with my tent and food to come 
 up. Got the tent pitched about sundown. Some hay 
 made a luxurious bed, into which I crawled as soon as I 
 had attended to everything, which was near nine P. sr. 
 Grover's advance is within four or five miles of the 
 enemy's works; Emory's between us and Grover. I 
 went to sleep the moment I touched the ground. Was 
 awakened at eleven by heavy cannonading at the front, 
 towards the river. It was the gunboats. We slept 
 after this with one eye open, hearing the terrific roar of 
 artillery. 
 
 At two in the morning, I was ordered to get the regi- 
 ment under arms and into line. It was now Sunday 
 morning, 15th. We expected we were going straight to 
 the front. The cannonading was still going on, but was 
 on the river, down nearer to us. Colonel Chapin came 
 to me and told me that we had been repulsed with great 
 loss. He ordered me to take the advance, to clear the 
 road back, with two regiments of infantry and a section of 
 artillery. They were afraid that our passage back would 
 be disputed at the bridge across the Bayou Montesino, 
 by the enemy's coming down on the Clinton Road, to 
 tut us off. 
 
 I was told to make for that bridge as fast as possible, 
 and hold it. 
 
 Just after we started, I saw an aide of General Emory's, 
 who told me that we had n't " got a gunboat left, and the
 
 76 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 army was all cut to pieces." I knew this was impossible, 
 for we should have been ordered to the front if there 
 had been any fighting of the land force. 
 
 At this time a tremendous report came from the river, 
 a quarter of a mile on our right, and several shells 
 seemed to burst directly over our heads. It was the 
 Mississippi when she blew up, a magnificent sight. 
 Everything seemed to give indication of a panic. Team- 
 sters were frightened, and were rushing and crowding 
 with their teams, blocking up the road. 
 
 I sent ahead and ordered the wagon train to be stopped, 
 as there were gaps of a mile in some places, which I had 
 to close up. At last I got the troops and artillery to the 
 front. The Forty-eighth had been ordered to start 
 ahead, and they were in such a hurry that I, not overtak- 
 ing them, sent Ben ahead to stop them till we came up. 
 When we got to the Bayou we found it all clear, the 
 two bridges still there. The plank bridge needed some 
 repair, and I left the Major with two companies to put it 
 in order and make it safe for the teams. I sent one 
 company across on to the Clinton Road to guard against 
 any attack of cavalry on our flank. After the wagon 
 train was well up, I kept on, intending to feel the way 
 into Baton Rouge. After we had marched a mile or two, 
 an order came from Banks to halt until further orders. 
 I waited two hours, and then had orders to go on to Baton 
 Rouge and go into camp. Meantime I heard from an 
 aide-de-camp that, as I supposed, the report of a repulse 
 was false. That two of our gunboats had succeeded in 
 passing the fort. The Mississippi had got aground, 
 been set on fire, floated down, and blown up. We had 
 got within a few rods of our old camp, the men were
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 77 
 
 tired, having been marching since three A. M., when an 
 order came to me to turn round and march back to the 
 Bayou again. 
 
 This was rather discouraging, but there was no help 
 for it. I let the men rest an hour, the artillery feed 
 their horses, etc. We got back to the Bayou about half 
 past four. We met Banks and his staff going into 
 Baton Rouge as we were coming out. Charley Sargent 
 stopped and told me that they had done what they in- 
 tended to ; get the gunboats by. Banks had sent de- 
 spatches by Farragut to Grant at Vicksburg. The plan 
 had been to draw the enemy out to fight us at Port Hud- 
 son, but he had refused offer. I know however that 
 Banks was frightened in the morning, for I saw the or- 
 der from him himself, ordering the trains to the rear, and 
 back to Baton Rouge as soon as possible. I felt safe 
 from the first, for Banks has made so many good re- 
 treats that he must understand it pretty well. We went 
 into camp on the south side of the Bayou, in a large 
 cornfield. I did n't get off my horse till after five ; in the 
 saddle nearly fourteen hours the second day. It began 
 to rain now, and the field was soon two or three inches 
 deep with water and mud. I had just got off my horse 
 when I received an order, saying that the Forty-ninth 
 and Fiftieth Massachusetts regiments would be in read- 
 iness to march to-night or to-morrow morning on an im- 
 portant expedition, under command of Colonel Bartlett. 
 I was to report immediately to Banks at Baton Rouge, 
 for instructions. I knew that it was absolutely impossi- 
 ble for the men to march in the condition they were, all 
 used up ; no chance for sleep in the night on account of 
 the rain, etc.
 
 78 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 I also thought it was rather " rubbing it in," to make 
 me ride all the way back to Baton Rouge in the rain, for 
 instructions, after I had been on the go since three that 
 morning, and it was by this time dark, and thence back 
 here again, and by the time I got here, start off on this 
 new tramp. 
 
 So I sent Ben over to Augur's Headquarters, from 
 whence the order came, to explain that my regiment had 
 just got in, had been marching all day, having been to 
 Baton Rouge and back. He said certainly they need 
 not go, that he " did not know they had been marching." 
 He " had designated Colonel Bartlett to go in command 
 of the expedition as a compliment," etc. This of course 
 was all very pleasant, and if it had been at any other 
 time I should have liked nothing better. But the regi- 
 ment was too much exhausted, and I was tired, to say 
 the least. I got some rails to keep us out of the water, 
 which was two or three inches deep in the tent, and 
 slept on these, like a log, till reveille. 
 
 I could hardly realize it when some one mentioned 
 that it was Sunday. So different from the quiet day a 
 week before. 
 
 Monday, 16th. Stopped raining this morning and the 
 sun is out very hot. I am sitting in the shade of my 
 tent, writing up my journal. I wonder what the first 
 reports of this affair will be in the Northern papers. 
 They will say nothing about the order to retreat, I im- 
 agine. Colonel Clark of Banks' Staff was wounded in 
 the leg day before yesterday, out at the front somewhere. 
 
 Over at Augur's quarters in the afternoon. They 
 blame Farragut for stopping to fight their batteries, in- 
 stead of pushing directly by. Farragut is to wait above
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 79 
 
 Port Hudson until Banks communicates with him, which 
 was the object of the expedition I was selected to com- 
 mand, to cross the river and go up above Port Hudson 
 on the other side. 
 
 Tuesday, 17th. Ben and I took a bath in a stream 
 back of our camp. Banks publishes in orders that " the 
 .Hartford and Albatross passed the fort safely, and lie an- 
 chored above. The object of the expedition is accom- 
 plished." 
 
 I expect that the first news which reaches the North 
 will be through rebel sources, announcing the destruc- 
 tion of our fleet, etc. 
 
 Wednesday, ISth. Slept on my gridiron of rails till 
 late this morning, not feeling well. Three hours of a 
 cool northern breeze, and a good dinner at home or at 
 Parker's, would make me all right. What must it be 
 here in July ! We are likely to find out, I guess. When 
 we came away from Baton Rouge I left my little leather- 
 covered pocket flask on my bed. It was dark and no 
 one saw it, to bring it along. I would not have lost it 
 for anything, I have had it so long. Some nigger 
 picked it up after we had gone, probably. While we 
 were lying in the shade this afternoon, tryfng to keep 
 cool, I began to make up some verses on the subject of 
 the present expedition. It reminded me, our marching 
 up to Port Hudson and then turning about and march- 
 ing back again without fighting, of the 
 
 " King of France with twenty thousand men 
 Marched up the hill and then marched down again." 
 
 Perhaps I will send them to you, if you won't show 
 them. We tried to ma^ke them absurd. You can't 
 understand all the " hits."
 
 80 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 Tfiursday, 19th. Allowed to sleep all night. Anyone 
 who knows how I hate snakes and all sorts of reptiles, 
 will imagine my disgust at finding a lizard in my bed 
 after the blanket was taken off this morning. If I had 
 been the lizard I should have chosen a softer bed than 
 mine was. One of my officers killed eight snakes yes- 
 terday. One of the rattlesnakes had eleven rattles. 
 
 Yesterday afternoon the mess pail arrived. It quite 
 set me up. I have felt better ever since. To-day we 
 use it for the first time.' 
 
 Friday, March 20. Orders this morning to march to 
 Baton Rouge. We got in about three p. M. We got 
 our tents up and began to make ourselves at home again. 
 
 Saturday, March 21. Rode down town this morning 
 to see Dr. Winsor, whom we left sick. He is much bet- 
 ter ; will be out in a few days. 
 
 I invited George Wheatland (of Salem), Major of the 
 Forty-eighth, to dine with me this evening. We dine at 
 six. I gave him a very good dinner. We used the new 
 mess pail ; just right for three. I had a pork steak off a 
 young pig, French bread, which Jacques gets in Baton 
 Rouge, and chocolate, which the latter makes very well, 
 fried sweet potatoes, guava jelly, boiled rice, butter, and 
 for dessert, figs, coffee, and cigars, and a thimbleful of 
 whiskey. He said it was the first decent dinner he had 
 had since he left Boston. The mail came this evening 
 too, a letter from Mother and one from Anna and Nellie 
 Putnam. 
 
 Sunday, March 22. A beautiful morning, quite cool. 
 Banks went to New Orleans yesterday ; his staff remains 
 here still. A prisoner was brought in by my pickets 
 this morning. He just came from Port Hudson. Says
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 81 
 
 they have fifty thousand men there. They think we 
 have about sixty thousand here. If they knew that we 
 only had sixteen thousand fighting men here, perhaps 
 they would drop in on us some morning. 
 
 Monday, March 23. Raining. My bed being pretty 
 comfortable I concluded to lie still until Jacques sum- 
 moned, " Dej'euner tout prt, Monsieur le Colonel," at 
 eight A. M. A nice one it was too. Dip toast, our reg- 
 ular morning dish (we get a pint of milk now twice a 
 day, ten cents per pint), and fried pudding. Fletcher 
 Abbott and Charley Sargent called in the afternoon. A 
 heavy shower coming up drove them off, and nearly 
 spoiled our dinner, which you know is cooked out doors, 
 on three or four bricks, just back of our tent. 
 
 Tuesday, March 24. Rode down to Baton Rouge, 
 saw Dr. Winsor; he is much better, will be out soon. 
 Banks' staff goes to New Orleans, to-day. A letter 
 from Uncle Edwin last night. Lieutenant-colonel Rod- 
 man (New Bedford), Massachusetts Thirty-eighth, called 
 this evening. 
 
 Wednesday, 25th. The prospect seems to be that we 
 shall stay here quiet now for the present, unless at- 
 tacked. It does not promise to be a very brilliant cam- 
 paign. 
 
 On Wednesday, May 27, 1863, Banks made 
 his first disastrous assault upon Port Hudson. 
 On this day Colonel Bartlett with his regiment 
 was with its brigade in a wood, and he thus de- 
 scribes the position and his experiences ; and the 
 record is the more solemn because he disapproved 
 the movement and anticipated its failure : 
 6
 
 82 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 " The edge of the woods was a few rods to the front, 
 and then there was open ground to the works, except 
 the obstructions. Soon the order came to assault. I 
 knew just what sort of a place there would be to go 
 through I had seen Rebel fortifications before. I 
 knew it would be almost impossible to get through the 
 fallen trees, etc., even if I was not shot at I knew, 
 being the only officer mounted, I should be much more 
 conspicuous. I knew that my chances for life were very 
 small. But I had to go horseback, or not at all. So 
 prayed that life and limb might be spared, and went in. 
 .... We had got two thirds across the slaughter-field 
 when, just as I was shouting to the me'n to keep closed 
 on the color, pop I went off my horse like a rocket. 
 .... As for me, God had been very good. I was 
 spared life, and most probably limb. The ball, a round 
 one luckily, struck in the joint of my wrist, shattering 
 the bones. It was very painful. The other wound was 
 slight. A buck-shot struck the outside of my right 
 ankle, and glanced down, entering the flesh and passing 
 through the sole of my foot." 
 
 The ball was cut from the wrist after no long 
 delay, and the wound dressed. He was placed 
 in an ambulance, and carried to the river, and 
 thence by steamboat to Baton Rouge, where he 
 was placed in bed in a house near his old camp. 
 These words from his journal are worth quoting, 
 for their simplicity : " The ride reminded me of 
 mine from Yorktown to Shipping Point a year 
 before. It was about nine miles, a rough road." 
 Again only this, and nothing more.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 83 
 
 Mr. Johns thus tells the story of the Colonel's 
 experiences that day : 
 
 " The Colonel was on horseback, the only mounted 
 man in the field. He had to go that way or stay behind. 
 With his regiment he would go. How he got through 
 the ditches and over all the obstructions I cannot con- 
 ceive. His little horse leaped obstacles that seemed 
 insurmountable to any horse flesh. Struck with his dar- 
 ing, it is said that the rebel officers commanded their 
 men not to fire on him ; but deadly missiles flew thick 
 and fast in that valley of death into which duty led 
 him, and, having gone about fifty rods, a bullet slightly 
 wounded him in the heel of his good leg, and another 
 
 shattered his left wrist It is said that when some 
 
 one came to help him, he asked them, 'Did you see 
 Billy ? He jumped like a rabbit.' " l 
 
 1 Extract from a letter of Colonel Walter Catting, A. D. C. : 
 " An assault on the fortifications of Port Hudson by the Nine- 
 teenth Corps, commanded by General Banks, was ordered for the 
 27th of May, 1863. It began on the left of the line, and about 
 noon, on that day, General Augur's Division (the centre) was or- 
 dered to assault the works in line of battle. Colonel W. F. Bart- 
 lett, commanding the Forty-ninth Massachusetts Volunteers, was 
 in this division, and as, by reason of the loss of his leg, he could 
 not go on foot over the half mile of felled timber and abatis, he, 
 being unwilling to let his regiment go without him, led it on 
 horseback. Out of about three thousand men in the Division, 
 he was the only mounted man in the assaulting column. He fell 
 wounded, as you know. A few days after, on being sent under a 
 flag of truce to ask permission to bury our dead, I met a number 
 vf the Confederate officers from the fort, who came out to meet 
 e. After the formal preliminaries, some of them asked, ' Who 
 was that man on horseback ? He was a gallant fellow ; ' ' a brave
 
 84 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 The wound in the wrist proved a painful and 
 severe one, and very nearly cost Colonel Bartlett 
 his arm. It suppurated very freely, and the dis- 
 charge weakened him extremely, the more so that 
 the hot season had now fully arrived. He re- 
 mained at Baton Rouge for about three weeks, 
 and there he received the best attention that cir- 
 cumstances admitted ; but everything seems to 
 have been mismanaged or neglected in that de- 
 partment. He records that one evening he sat 
 up till past ten, " waiting for the doctors, who 
 were to come, but did n't. Learned this morning 
 one was very drunk, the other taking care of him. 
 Good medical attendance I " His journal makes 
 almost daily mention of the condition of the 
 wound, but usually in the fewest words. On the 
 19th of June he writes at unusual length: " The 
 inflammation on the outside of my arm still con- 
 tinues, and is quite painful. My great fear is 
 that inflammation will set in, so that I shall lose 
 my arm above the elbow, or my life even. We 
 must pray not." He told the writer some years 
 after, that for a long time at this period men were 
 detailed to be with him day and night, and to 
 keep ice melting drop by drop upon his wrist, and 
 
 man ; ' 'the bravest and most daring thing we have yet seen done 
 in the war,' etc., etc. And after I had told them it was Colonel 
 Bartlett, etc., etc., they said, ' We thought him too brave a man to 
 t killed, so we ordered our men not to fire at him.' This was 
 repeated to me by several of them, and I, thinking it too good to 
 be lost, gave it to the newspaper correspondents to publish."
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 85 
 
 BO to keep down the inflammation. He also said 
 that one day the surgeons at last decided that it 
 was no longer safe to try to save the hand, and 
 that they went away for their instruments, and 
 that when they returned and began their prepa- 
 rations for the operation, it was growing dark, and 
 candles were brought. He had a feeling, it was 
 nothing more, that if he was. to lose another 
 limb, he would like better to have it done by 
 daylight, and he asked them if it would make any 
 real difference if they should wait till morning. 
 They said it would not, and went away. In the 
 morning they returned, laid out their instruments, 
 and removed the bandages. They looked at the 
 arm, then looked at each other, then consulted a 
 little, and then told him that they hardly dared 
 to say so, but that they fancied it looked a mere 
 shade better, and that at any rate they would 
 wait till afternoon. In the afternoon, the same 
 performance was repeated, and so on for several 
 days. The arm never looked worse, and could 
 hardly be said to look better, but by degrees that 
 were almost imperceptible it improved, until at 
 last its safety was declared. Thus by his respect 
 for what seemed a mere caprice of the moment, 
 or at best a sentiment, Colonel Bartlett had the 
 great good fortune to escape adding the loss of an 
 arm to the loss of a leg. The wound healed com- 
 pletely in time, but the wrist was permanently 
 stiffened, and the use of some of the fingers of 
 that hand was impaired.
 
 86 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 At this time lie received and declined the offer 
 of the colonelcy of a regiment in the so-called 
 Corps d'Afrique, which General Andrews was 
 then forming in the Department of the Gulf. 
 
 He left Baton Rouge by steamer in the evening 
 of Sunday, July 19. He writes : " I never was 
 so glad to leave any place before. I hope never 
 to see it again." He reached New Orleans the 
 next morning, and remained there three or four 
 days. In the first twenty-four hours of his stay, 
 three large pieces of bone came out of his arm, and 
 he suffered very much from the excessive heat. 
 It may be well, as a contribution to the history of 
 the period, to quote the following lines written in 
 his journal by the patient, uncomplaining, sol- 
 dierly man, at the end of his stay in the Depart- 
 ment of the Gulf : " It is the way everything is 
 managed or rather mismanaged in this depart- 
 ment, which, if Heaven ever permits me to get 
 out of it alive, shall never be troubled by my 
 presence again." 
 
 Of the following letters, the first is from the 
 wife of the Surgeon of the regiment, giving ex- 
 tracts from a letter from her husband to Colonel 
 Bartlett's father. The others are from Colonel 
 Bartlett himself : 
 
 June. 10, 1863. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR : I have dates to-day to the 30th. 
 I suppose you have the same, but give extracts : 
 " May 28. Colonel Bartlett got a ball in left wrist,
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 87 
 
 which I took out; the bone is broken, but I am sanguine 
 in the opinion that his arm and hand can be saved. His 
 pluck was splendid, and he thought far more of his regi- 
 ment than of himself. He is on his way to Baton Rouge. 
 Lieut-colonel got a ball in the shoulder, but no bones 
 broken." 
 
 " May 29. General Augur said every officer there 
 was brave, but Colonel Bartlett the bravest, and one of 
 his best colonels." 
 
 " May 30, 1\ A. M. Colonel Bartlett was hit in left 
 wrist by round musket ball, which went through from 
 one side to the other, where I took it out. The hand 
 will be saved." 
 
 BATON ROUGE, June 13, 1863. 
 
 DEAR MOTHER : I have improved very much within 
 the last few days. My appetite has returned, and I feel 
 much better every way. My arm is suppurating very 
 freely under the application of warm woollen cloths, 
 which act like a mild poultice. All the doctors who 
 look at my arm say it is doing finely. Even those who 
 thought it was impossible to save the hand at first, think 
 now there is n't the least doubt. It will be a long time 
 getting well, on account of the little pieces of bone, two 
 of which came out this morning. I have no pain in the 
 wrist now, except when it has to be moved. My foot is 
 doing very well, almost all healed up. I keep simple 
 cerate on that, some of my old supply. I had a long 
 etter from Anna yesterday, from Baltimore. It was 
 quite an interesting letter, all but the writing ; and 
 that was amusing. You must write to Sallie for me a 
 %w lines. Had a letter from Little too, dated the latter 
 part of April. Have they published the account of our
 
 88 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT 
 
 storming the works ? The New Orleans papers have 
 not been allowed to mention it. Did n't want to gratify 
 the many rebs there. General Augur told one of 
 Banks' staff the other day, in speaking of me, that I 
 "was the best colonel in his Division, and he had rather 
 have lost any other ! " 
 
 Talk about your one leg, I don't see but it is as good 
 as some people's two. I have heard other things, which, 
 as the "correspondents" say, "I am not at liberty to 
 divulge at present." 
 
 I don't want all those strawberries to be gone before 
 I get there. They have the meanest strawberries and 
 the meanest tomatoes here that you can imagine. It's 
 a mean place anyway, the whole State, and I wouldn't 
 live here for it. 
 
 I long to get out on to salt water ; that will set me up, 
 I expect. Well, it won't be long now, I hope. I sup- 
 pose you are all worrying yourselves at a great rate, by 
 this time. You ought to have got my first letter now. 
 
 Love to all. 
 
 Your affectionate son, W. F. B. 
 
 The other officers, as far as I can find out, are doing 
 very well. Ben is well, at least he was a day or two 
 since. 
 
 Sunday, June 14. Feeling better. Big dinner to- 
 day. Colonel Sumner came to see me to-day. He is 
 loing well. 
 
 BATON ROCGE, June 19, 1863. 
 
 .... You needn't let them know, if you can avoid 
 it, that the wound in my wrist-joint is worse than I knew 
 of at first. If I had been told just how bad the wound
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 89 
 
 was that afternoon on the field, I would have made the 
 surgeon take off the hand without a second thought. 
 The surgeon assured me so positively that I could save 
 the hand, that I didn't think to ask, " At how great a 
 risk, in how long a time ? " I want the surgeons to take 
 it off now, and let me get well, instead of running the 
 risk of inflammation, and losing it above the elbow, or 
 
 worse. The surgeons say, wait 
 
 As to the assault, Frank, it was a very nasty fight. 
 If Mr. Banks had been, as you and I had, at Howard's 
 Bridge and Yorktown, he would have seen what sort of 
 things rebel fortifications were. He had never seen any 
 of any account (nor Augur either, but he was much 
 opposed to storming the works). I had told myself 
 quietly, long before we had the order to storm, just what 
 sort of a place there would be to pass over after we 
 cleared the woods, and just about what we should catch 
 while we were scrambling over these obstacles. I was 
 sorry to find with how much truth I had told myself 
 that yarn. You know, Frank, just what it was. After 
 you got to the edge of the woods, you could see the 
 breastworks, two or three hundred yards distant. While 
 waiting in the edge of the woods, we were beyond reach 
 of their musketry, but the grape was profuse. The in- 
 tervening ground was, as you have seen it, covered with 
 trees ingeniously felled and cut up, so that they afforded 
 no shelter, but were great obstacles. It was pretty hard 
 getting through and over it on horseback. The rest you 
 know. It was hard to keep a line where men had to 
 pick their way and scramble over these things. I halted 
 them two or three times for a few seconds, just to get a 
 formation on the colors, which were carried beautifully.
 
 90 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 .... We lost pretty heavily, seventy-five out of two 
 hundred and twenty odd. Eleven officers out of eighteen 
 
 killed or wounded I am glad to hear Holmes is 
 
 doing well. Give my love to him. Tell him we " tie 
 on the number of wounds ; we shall both have to try it 
 again to see who gets the rubber." .... 
 
 He sailed for New York in the steamer Matan- 
 zas, on the 23d of July, and reached port on the 
 31st, after a very pleasant voyage, which did him 
 good. For the next month he did little but to 
 rest and enjoy himself, and recover his health. 
 His regiment reached Pittsfield on the 22d of Au- 
 gust, and he rode at its head, with his wounded 
 arm in a box-sling, in the procession which es- 
 corted it from the railway station, through the 
 streets of the town in which it was formed. It 
 was mustered out of the service a few days later, 
 but its muster-out did not bring repose to its 
 Colonel, for he had already accepted the colo- 
 nelcy of the Fifty-seventh Regiment, Massachu- 
 setts Volunteer Infantry, a regiment enlisted for 
 three years or the war, which he was to raise as 
 well as command. On the 26th of September, 
 Governor Andrew told him that Secretary Stan- 
 ton had expressed himself as much pleased with 
 his military career, and had promised that as soon 
 as he had raised his regiment, he should have a 
 brigadier-general's commission. Colonel Bartlett 
 was then a little more than twenty-three. His 
 journal contains not a word of exultation, only
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 91 
 
 fchese simple words : " This was very gratifying, 
 of course. I hope he will keep his promise." 
 
 For the rest of the year 1863, and until the 
 middle of April, 1864, Colonel Bartlett remained 
 in Massachusetts. The earlier portion of this 
 period, at least, was one of the pleasant times of 
 his life. His health was improving, his work was 
 light, his position was altogether gratifying. 
 After the responsibility and fatigue and discom- 
 fort of his life in Louisiana, home with its pleas- 
 ures and honors was a delightful change. It was 
 at the close of this period that he became engaged 
 to be married, though his engagement was not 
 announced for some months. 
 
 He was complimented by an offer which he 
 thus records : 
 
 " October 30. The Governor sent for me and asked 
 if I would like to take the Fortieth Massachusetts Reg- 
 iment, now at Folly Island, Charleston Harbor. He 
 wanted some one to straighten it out, I told him if I 
 was well enough to take the field now, I would." 
 
 As the year 1863 drew to its close, he became 
 much busier, as the formation of his new regi- 
 ment advanced, and he began to spend much time 
 at Worcester, where its camp was established. 
 On the 7th of January, 1864, a fresh misfortune 
 befell him. On the evening of that day, he be- 
 came conscious that something was wrong with
 
 92 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 his left eye and that side of his face. This was 
 in Boston. On the following day he went to 
 Worcester, but, the affection continuing on the 
 9th, he consulted a physician, who told him it 
 was paralysis, prescribed an external treatment, 
 and forbade him to go out or to read. His only 
 comment is, " Pretty dismal. Wish I had gone 
 home." On the next day he writes : " Kept the 
 house all day. My face the same. I don't know 
 of anything I had not rather have than such an 
 affliction as this. I thought I had endured enough 
 these last two years, but it seems not. This is 
 the worst of all. Not that I am proud of my 
 face, for it is not at best a handsome one, but to 
 lose all power of expression or motion on one side, 
 and not be able to laugh or eat without distorting 
 it, is rather hard." He left Worcester in a day 
 or two, and returned to his home, where he re- 
 mained very quietly for the next three weeks. 
 His ailment seems to have yielded readily to 
 treatment, for on the 29th he makes the sim- 
 ple entry : " My face is better. I can move 
 it." After this he seems to have resumed his 
 usual habits of life. The affection appears to 
 have been caused by a draught of cold air from 
 an open window while he sat at work near a hot 
 stove. The physicians feared it might prove seri- 
 ous, but they were mistaken, and, once gone, it 
 never returned. The ailment drew from his old
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 93 
 
 companion, Major Abbott of the Twentieth Mas- 
 sachusetts, the following letter : 
 
 NEAR STEVENSBURG, VA., February 3, 1864. 
 
 Mr DEAR FRANK: I have just heard through let- 
 ters from home and by Slocum Milton of your new 
 misfortune, though nobody can tell me how serious the 
 paralysis is, and of your pluck and cheerfulness in stand- 
 ing it. Why, dear old fellow, you don't know how much 
 we all sympathize with you, and how much we admire 
 your resolution in bearing your sufferings. I trust the 
 evil is not so serious as reports make it, but I know at 
 the best it must be bad enough. It is your duty now to 
 think only of your own case and how to alleviate it, and 
 not fret about military matters. You have done and 
 suffered enough, not for one man but for a hundred, and 
 you ought to think of nothing but your own health. 
 You know, of course, Frank, and it must be some com- 
 pensation for your trials, you have won a name for ca- 
 pacity and gallantry and heroism, as great as any man of 
 your age in the whole army. God knows you have de- 
 served it, and I don't believe he will allow it to be your 
 only reward outside of yourself. You will weather it 
 all, so that you can enjoy as much physical comfort as of 
 old, in the possession of your laurels. For Heaven's 
 sake, don't be rash again in the smallest particular. I 
 was afraid when I saw you at home this last time, you 
 were overtasking your strength, and you are well enough 
 aware that it is your tendency to think too little of that 
 body of yours, which, with all its losses, is thought very 
 well of by your friends, if you disregard it yourself. 
 
 Of course I don't expect you to answer this ; I have
 
 94 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 only written because I could n't help expressing my sym- 
 pathy in your unparalleled sufferings and fortitude. 
 "With my kind regards to your family, I am, 
 Your affectionate friend, 
 
 H. L. ABBOTT. 
 
 Nat and all the rest of the old fellows send their 
 warmest love. 
 
 On the 17th of March, 1864, he formed the 
 line of the Fifty-seventh Massachusetts Infantry 
 for the first time. On the 28th of the same month, 
 a sword was presented to him by the citizens of 
 the town of Winthrop, where his father's family 
 was then, and had for some years been living. The 
 ceremony took place in the Town Hall, which 
 was filled with the men and women of Winthrop. 
 The walls bore the names of "Ball's Bluff," 
 " Yorktown," " Plains Store," and " Port Hud- 
 son," and the colors of the Twentieth Regiment 
 were placed upon the platform. The Governor of 
 the Commonwealth, several members of his staff, 
 and some officers who had seen service, were pres- 
 ent. In answer to a most flattering address from 
 an eminent and venerable citizen of Massachu- 
 setts, Colonel Bartlett spoke as follows : 
 
 MR. CHAIRMAN AND FELLOW CITIZENS, I could 
 wish that it had been your fortune to present this testi- 
 monial to one who would have done more justice to it in 
 words more befitting the occasion and the gift. Had I 
 ycur own command of language I could hardly do jua-
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 95 
 
 tice to it. If in the performance of my duties as a sol- 
 dier I have met your approbation, I am truly grateful 
 for it. The consciousness of duty performed is in itself 
 a sufficient reward, but to this to-day is added the knowl- 
 edge of the approval and applause of others, and the 
 assurance that those at home appreciate our sacrifices, 
 and that it is to keep a desolating war from their hearth- 
 stones that we take the field. You in this quiet North- 
 ern town know little of the misery of war, and the des- 
 olation that follows in the track of an army. If some 
 fine day you should see an army file into your fields, 
 and destroy your growing harvests, and dig a rifle pit in 
 your garden, or cut down your choicest trees because 
 they obstructed the view, you would see that the misery 
 that the South is now suffering is but the just reward of 
 her treachery and rebellion. His Excellency has just 
 assured me of his confidence by placing under my com- 
 mand another Massachusetts regiment. The last one I 
 had the honor to command was enlisted for only nine 
 months, but served nearly twelve, and I believe during 
 that term had its full share of danger, and I never knew 
 of its disgracing the service or the State. Massachu- 
 setts soldiers never do. The regiment I now command 
 will serve three years, and it is proposed to end the war 
 in a much shorter time ; but if we should be needed for 
 three times three years, we have enlisted for the war. 
 I see around me here the names of places which I can- 
 not soon forget places where I have known the sad- 
 dest and the proudest moments of my life. I see the 
 tattered flags of the brave old Twentieth, under which 
 my earliest duties as a soldier were done on the field of 
 battle. If the names of all the gallant men who have
 
 96 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 fought and fallen around you in your defense could be 
 inscribed in characters of gold within your folds, it would 
 be a fitting tribute of their devotion to the cause of which 
 you are to us the hallowed symbol. You at home hope 
 that this war will soon be over, and we hope so too, but 
 we will have no peace but an honorable one. If we 
 would have a lasting peace, we must realize that our 
 honor, our safety, our very existence as a nation, de- 
 pend upon our self-sacrifice and our valor. You must 
 put forth every exertion, you must give every dollar, 
 and if need be send every man, until we can win a vic- 
 torious peace. I go to the field in a few weeks and 
 shall carry this beautiful gift. I shall bring it back, if I 
 come, bruised and disfigured perhaps, but with no stain 
 of dishonor. For it, and for this flattering ovation, for 
 the presence here of so many friends, and among them 
 one whom the State and country loves and honors for 
 this day never to be forgotten by me, I thank you. 
 
 On the 31st of March he writes in his journal : 
 
 " (one of his most valued officers) came 
 
 back last night. He is going to resign, I am sorry 
 to say. His wife has persuaded him. It is the 
 weakest thing I ever saw in him. I lose faith in 
 man's firmness and woman's fortitude." 
 
 On the 14th of April, the Governor visited the 
 camp of the Fifty-seventh Regiment, and pre- 
 sented to it the usual set of regimental colors. 
 His address concluded in these words : 
 
 I commit these banners to you as an officer, as a citi- 
 zen of Massachusetts, and as a personal friend an
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 97 
 
 officer firm and loyal, a citizen faithful and patriotic, a 
 friend in whom there is no guile with a satisfaction 
 no words can express. And whatever fate may be be- 
 fore you, I know that neither on the white stripes of the 
 one flag nor the white field of the other will there ever 
 fall the slightest dishonor. 
 
 Colonel Bartlett replied as follows : 
 
 YOUR EXCELLENCY, I hope, sir, we shall do the 
 flag more credit in action, than we can do ourselves in 
 speech. 
 
 MY MEN ! This flag, which is the standard of our own 
 Massachusetts, and this which we have been taught to 
 look upon as the sacred emblem of our nation, have to- 
 day been formally entrusted to our keeping, to carry 
 and defend, by the Governor of our State. Can I say 
 to him for you, that you will try to do honor to this 
 trust ? That you will carry it and defend it, whenever 
 and wherever duty calls ; that you will never desert, 
 disown, or disgrace it ; that you will swear by it, pray 
 for it, live for it, and if need be, die for it ; and that you 
 will devote yourselves to its service until it shall be 
 feared and respected throughout the recreant South, as 
 it is loved and cherished by the loyal North ? 
 
 Ever since that flag was insulted by traitors in 
 Charleston harbor, it has had a warmer place in the 
 heart of every loyal man. When her high-toned orators 
 threatened the South's rebellion and secession, we en- 
 dured a great deal of personal insult and abuse, calmly 
 and silently. But when, viper-like, she turned and fired 
 upon that flag which had shielded and protected her, she 
 struck a blow which blood alone can atone for. She 
 7
 
 98 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 made a blot on the page of our national history which 
 we are in arms to-day to wipe out. As it went slowly 
 and sullenly down on those battered walls, it went up 
 like magic on every hill-top and tower, on every steeple 
 and staff throughout the North ; and nearer and dearer 
 to us than anything else on earth, and reverenced next 
 to our religion, is that old flag still. 
 
 There are those at the South who, still true to their 
 country, are waiting silently and patiently till they see 
 the gleam of its folds again a token of the return of 
 good government, the overthrow of despotism and re- 
 bellion ; and there are those, too, who wait hopefully, 
 prayerfully, for its coming, for they know that now and 
 hereafter, wherever that flag floats, all men are free. 
 
 On the 18th of April, 1864, the regiment left 
 Worcester, nine hundred and twenty-eight strong. 
 On the 20th, it reached Annapolis, and there be- 
 came part of the First Brigade, First Division, 
 Ninth Army Corps. It took up the march on the 
 23d, and passed through Washington, and by the 
 30th it had reached Rappahannock Station. It 
 marched well for a new regiment, for in the last 
 six of these eight days it accomplished one hun- 
 dred and one miles. 
 
 The letters which Colonel Bartlett wrote, and 
 the journal entries which he made from this time, 
 tell the story of his experiences and feelings so 
 fully that it is well to leave him to speak for 
 himself.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT, 99 
 
 RAPPAHANNOCK STATION, VA., May 3, 1864. 
 We move to-morrow morning with the grand army of 
 Lhe Potomac. I have been here three days, and not found 
 time to go over to the Twentieth, only five miles distant. 
 My regiment is in no condition to take into action, but I 
 must do the best I can. It will be a long and hard fight. 
 God, I hope, will give us the victory. The chances I 
 think are even. Grant, I fear, does not appreciate Lee's 
 ability, nor the qualities of his army. Let us hope for 
 
 the best I am very well Give me twenty 
 
 days and I could make a splendid regiment of this, but 
 man proposes and Grant disposes. Good-by. 
 
 Ever faithfully yours. FRANK. 
 
 May 4. Hard marching. Thrown twice. Not hurt. 
 Brier caught in horse's flesh. Marching till four A. M. 
 
 May 5. To Germanna Ford. Cross Rap. We shall 
 fight to-morrow. I hope I may get through, but hardly 
 expect it. His will be done. 
 
 May 6. Move at three A. M. to the front. It will be 
 a bloody day. I believe I am prepared to die. God 
 bless my dear friends at home, mother, father, sisters, 
 Agnes. Went into action about eight. Thick woods. 
 Men behaved well. I was struck in head about eleven. 
 Carried to rear. Sent to the hospital in rear. Lay 
 there among the wounded and dying till night, when 
 there was a falling back, and I was put in an ambulance ; 
 .... knocked about all night. I slept a good deal. 
 Morning, lay under some trees near the road to Chan- 
 cellorsville. Afternoon, persuaded to go in ambulance to 
 Bappahannock, thence to Washington, with rest of the 
 wounded. Went to Ely's Ford. Stayed there till two
 
 100 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 A. M. Only heard of five of my officers being wounded. 
 
 . . . Colonel Chandler behaved splendidly. General 
 Hancock ordered me to charge over a regiment lying in 
 front of us that would not move. We did it in perfect 
 line. Hancock said " Glorious ! " Saw Macy, as I was 
 carried to rear, wounded in leg. 
 
 Sunday, 8th. Ambulances moved to Chancellorsville, 
 halting here at half past nine A. M. Moved to Pine 
 Grove Church. Park wagons here. I don't know 
 what they propose to do with us. My idea is, Grant 
 is getting mixed. Went to ambulance Macy was in. 
 Little Abbott is dead. I knew it would be so. Oh, if 
 I could only have seen him ! Moved at six for Fred- 
 ericksburg. Halted about eleven for night. The loss 
 in my regiment is great. Nearly two hundred killed 
 and wounded. I am satisfied with their conduct. 
 
 May 9. Moved into Fredericksburg this morning at 
 sunrise, in a brick house here. Lived in ambulance 
 three days and nights. Long enough. I have been to 
 see Macy. It seems queer for him to be here the 
 place he has fought in and fought for so much. I am 
 pretty weak. My head not bad. Stump painful. A 
 
 week or two will set me right again Very long, 
 
 long day. Sleep on the floor without any cover. Not 
 cold. 
 
 May 10. Long, miserable day. Hear that Sedgwick 
 is killed. I would rather that any other officer in the 
 army was gone than he. His body has come. Abbott's 
 body is here too. Afternoon, five of us hired a wagon 
 to take us to Belle Plain. Macy wanted to go more 
 than I did, so I gave up my chance. Very hot. Awful 
 amount of suffering here. Very little attendance. No 
 supplies. Here 's a chance for the Sanitary.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 101 
 
 May 11. Start at ten A. M. in ambulance for Belle 
 
 Plain, fourteen miles, hard road. Colonel crazy 
 
 most of the time. Got on board transport at four p. M. 
 .... Reached Washington at eleven. .... Good sup- 
 per and bath. Bad night, delirious, threatened with 
 fever. 
 
 A dramatic incident occurred at this battle of 
 the Wilderness. Bartlett and Macy had last seen 
 each other in the field on the 24th of April, 1862, 
 when they both were Captains in the 20th Mas- 
 sachusetts Infantry. In the battle of the Wilder- 
 ness, they were wounded nearly at the same time, 
 and as they emerged from the woods, Bartlett 
 drooping over the neck of his horse and with his 
 arms clinging round it, and Macy borne on a 
 stretcher, they met, both of them Colonels of 
 Massachusetts Infantry regiments. It was a 
 strange chance that men who had parted with 
 the rank of captain, should next meet in the field 
 more than two years after, both colonels, serving 
 in different corps d' armee, and both wounded in 
 the same battle. 
 
 WASHINGTON, May 12, 1864. 
 
 DEAR MOTHER, I reached here last night from 
 Fredericksburg. I was hit the second day's fight in the 
 Wilderness, just above the right temple. The ball 
 glanced off, only making a slight wound. I was stunned 
 for a short time, but was carried to the rear just in time 
 to avoid being taken prisoner. When I fell, I wrenched 
 my stump so that it has been very painful, and I am
 
 102 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 not able to wear my leg. Otherwise I should not have 
 left the regiment. I have been living ever since (this 
 was Friday, sixth) in an ambulance, on nothing but hard 
 bread and whiskey. I had a bath last night, and a bed, 
 and shall soon be all right. It has been continual 
 marching and fighting since we left Rappahannock. 
 Little Abbott you know is killed. Macy wounded, log. 
 Bond wounded, and hosts of others whom you don't 
 know. Our greatest loss is Sedgwick. I shall try to 
 get a few days' leave to go on, get my other leg, and 
 have it fitted. It has been the hardest fighting of the 
 war, probably the hardest in history, those two days in 
 the Wilderness. Our loss is estimated from twenty to 
 thirty thousand. 
 
 With much love to all, 
 
 Aff. yours, 
 
 W. F. B. 
 
 May 12. Pretty miserable this morning Left 
 
 at twenty minutes past five for Baltimore Good 
 
 night's sleep. Plenty of quinine has kept off fever so far. 
 
 May 13. Much better this morning. Leave Balti- 
 more at ten A. M. Reach New York at seven P. M. 
 Found mother and father here at Fifth Avenue. Cheers 
 when I entered the hotel. Great excitement. 
 
 May 19. Leave for Boston. 
 
 May 20. Governor is to write Wilson about Brig. 
 
 May 23. Saw Wilson at state-house. Promised to 
 do what he could at Washington. If he does, it will be 
 all right. 
 
 June 3. Reached Washington Wilson had 
 
 Been President. Papers had gone to Secretary cf War.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 108 
 
 June 4. Went to Secretary. Spoke kindly. Sent 
 (sic) my papers referred to General Halleck. I ex- 
 pect that will be the last of it. 
 
 June 6. To Baltimore. 
 
 BALTIMORE, June 11, 1864. 
 
 DEAR FATHER: I received your letter yesterday, 
 and could not imagine what you meant by " my letter in 
 the ' Post,' " until I saw the paper which Sallie received. 
 I should have thought you would have known that I 
 never wrote such a letter as that. It is disgraceful, and 
 I will give a month's pay to find out who wrote it. If 
 it was any man or officer of my regiment, I pity him. 
 If there is anything I detest in any officer, it is wri- 
 ting to a newspaper. Please give the enclosed to Mr. 
 Greene. He can make the statement, with authority, 
 without publishing my communication. Or if he pre- 
 fers, he can do that. I have written to the Editor of 
 the " Springfield Republican " to send me the manu- 
 script, that I may find out who has taken this liberty 
 with my name. 
 
 I leave for Washington this afternoon. I have had 
 a very pleasant week here, and am much better than 
 when I left home. I shall see General Augur to- 
 morrow. He was going to see Halleck when I came 
 away, with what result I do not yet know. Will write 
 you from Washington. Love to all. 
 
 In haste, 
 W. F. B. 
 
 The allusion in the foregoing letter is to a letter 
 published in the " Boston Post," and copied from 
 the " Springfield Republican." It purported to be
 
 104 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 written by Colonel Bartlett, and was a vainglori- 
 ous, poor affair, full of fulsome praise of the Fifty- 
 seventh Regiment, and of disparaging contrast be- 
 tween it and the other regiments of the Division, 
 and utterly unlike Bartlett in every respect. Two 
 or three days after, the " Post" published a very 
 short communication from Colonel Bartlett, in 
 which he pronounced it an absolute forgery. 
 
 WASHINGTON, June 14, 1864. 
 
 Your kind letter I found here on Sunday last when I 
 returned from Baltimore, where I passed last week very 
 quietly. I am much better than when I left you, and 
 feel that I am improving every day. I had a slight re- 
 lapse o'n Sunday for some reason or other. I had been 
 to church in the morning, and as I got out of the carriage 
 At the house I had a severe pain strike me 
 
 I went to dinner in the afternoon, but this pain in- 
 creased so, that I had to leave the table. I came very 
 near tipping over; I never was so faint before, simply 
 from pain. I was alarmed, as that was a new spot for 
 me to have pain, and I could not account for it. I took 
 off my leg, and in ten minutes the pain had almost en- 
 tirely gone. 
 
 I came to Washington that night, expecting to go 
 down to the front this morning, but the Medical Director 
 here advised so strongly my waiting a few days longer 
 that I have consented. He explained the attack of 
 Sunday by saying that the socket must have pressed 
 induly upon, or strained, some particular nerve (I for- 
 get what it was, and you would not know if I should 
 tell you), and the pain was from sympathy or connection
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 105 
 
 with this nerve. I was relieved to know that it was 
 nothing worse. I have had one or two very slight 
 touches since. Surgeon says I must begin moderately 
 in using my leg. 
 
 I have not been to the President with your father's 
 letter. The fact is, I can't make up my mind to go to 
 these men and ask for anything. It was very kind of 
 your father to write such a letter for me. I only in- 
 tended to ask for a simple note of introduction, to say 
 that my name was B. and he knew it. General Augur 
 has been to see Stanton, and I hear that the papers have 
 been referred to General Halleck. I suppose they will 
 be pigeon-holed somewhere, and that will be the last of 
 it. I should have liked to have it come from Stanton, 
 as he voluntarily promised, and if it does come at all, 
 it must come of itself; for I should be a very poor hand 
 pulling wires, or urging anything of the sort. 
 
 There are doubtless plenty of easy berths here that I 
 could have for the asking ; but I don't want them. I 
 feel that I am not adapted for office business here, such 
 as provost-marshal, etc. If I am of any value, it is in 
 the field, in the actual handling and government of 
 troops. 
 
 Still, it seems pretty hard for me to go down there 
 and take command of my one hundred men, a captain's 
 command, after the larger ones that I have had. I 
 heard from the regiment to-day. It has a good reputa- 
 tion throughout the corps. All speak of Colonel Chan- 
 dler's splendid bravery and coolness. 
 Believe me dear Frank, 
 
 As ever, yours, 
 
 F. B.
 
 106 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 I think of poor Lit. so often, Frank; I can't realize 
 that I am never to see him any more. 
 
 I went to the Hospital yesterday to see Crowell, of I 
 (Twentieth) ; do you remember him ? He has lost a 
 leg. He seemed very glad to see me, and I was able to 
 make him more comfortable. He asked about you. 
 
 F. 
 
 June 12. At Baltimore. Bad pain at dinner time. 
 To Washington. 
 
 June 13. Saw General Augur. Halleck had not re- 
 ceived my papers when he was there. Got my pass ex- 
 tended ten days. Shall go down in disgust before that 
 unless I hear from Brig. 
 
 June 14. Went to Halleck's office. Found my 
 
 papers had been returned to Secretary of War 
 
 Went up to Senate. Saw Sumner, Anthony, etc., Per- 
 ley Poore. Received a document printed from Pome- 
 roy. Nomination of W. F. B. for Brigadier-general 
 Volunteers, to my great surprise. So I am at last 
 really appointed. Now if I am confirmed it will give 
 me new heart. Saw Wilson, evening. Will put it 
 through this week. Vive la Guerre ! 
 
 June 21. I was waked this morning by James, com- 
 ing in and reading to me that the Senate last night con- 
 firmed W. F. B. to be Brigadier-general Volunteers. 
 Thank God ! Went to Baltimore, evening. 
 
 June 24. To Washington. 
 
 June 28. Received my commission as Brigadier-gen- 
 eral, date June 20. Go to Ninth Corps.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 107 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., July 1, 1864. 
 
 Here it is July, Frank, and I am not out of this miser- 
 able place yet. I expect now to go down to the front 
 the first of next week. I am assigned to the Ninth 
 Corps, and shall keep the same brigade that I was in 
 before. It was very strong, five regiments Massachu- 
 setts and two United States. Since I came away, the 
 Regulars have been transferred to the Fifth Corps. I 
 shall probably have no permanent staff at present. As 
 soon as we have a respite and reorganize a little, I shall 
 try to get together a congenial and efficient one. Ben 
 has been waiting for my promotion, to go on the staff. 
 I have written him that it is a bad time to join just 
 now, heat, dirt, reduced commands, etc., and it may 
 discourage him. Of course it will be pleasant for me 
 to have him for a companion. Herbert is here now. 
 Goes back to-night. He would like to go with me if he 
 could ride. He gets very impatient and blue at times. 
 If he could only ride ! 
 
 Yes, Frank, I have got my commission at last, signed 
 by Abe and Stanton. Gotten up in great style, in a 
 brown tin case, with my name, rank, etc., in large letters 
 of gold on the outside. The appointment was made 
 early in June, but the Senate had no executive session 
 till the 20th. You were right, Frank, in addressing my 
 letter as you did, although the confirmation was made 
 when I got it. I was very much annoyed by receiving 
 letters of congratulation, etc., before the confirmation. 
 Meant in all kindness, of course ; but I was sorry that 
 anything was known about it until it was confirmed. I 
 saw it, the appointment, in the paper (Boston paper at 
 that) first, just after I wrote you last I must say I 
 hardly expected it.
 
 108 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 The weather here has been fearfully hot. Almost un- 
 bearable. I gave a small dinner night before last at 
 Buhler's ; Majors Cutting and Raymond, of Augur's 
 Staff, Caspar and Herb., with one or two others, made a 
 very pleasant little party. Buhler quite surpassed my 
 expectations. It is the best place in Washington, I 
 think, although I heard that it had fallen off. 
 
 Yesterday, Herb, and I drove out to Fall's Church, to 
 Caspar's Camp. I have found myself many times this 
 last week wishing that you were here; but you were 
 enjoying the cool breezes which I could not have pro- 
 cured for you here, and were better off. 
 
 I have too much in my mind that I want to say to 
 you to begin to put it on paper. 
 
 The " gobbling " of the old brigade that the Twenti- 
 eth was in was an unlucky termination to a long and 
 brave career. I am glad the Twentieth escaped. 
 
 I am getting quite thin. My stump gets smaller every 
 day. I have two thicknesses of leather, and two or 
 three wads of paper round my stump, to fill up the 
 socket. If it continues to wilt, I shall have to get an- 
 other new socket made, which will delay me. 
 
 Ever yours, FRANK. 
 
 From the 1st to the 17th of July, he was mov- 
 ing about busily. From Washington he went 
 to Baltimore, thence to Philadelphia, where he re- 
 ceived many gratifying attentions, thence to New 
 York, and thence to Pittsfield, where he records 
 in his journal, " Very grateful for God's mercy 
 and loving kindness." From Pittsfield he went 
 to his home at Winthrop, and from there he re- 
 turned to Washington.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 109 
 
 WASHINGTON, July 18, 1864. 
 
 I have only time to write a few words to-night to say 
 good-by. I was very much disappointed at not seeing 
 you the day I was in Boston. You know I was n't 
 there quite twenty-four hours ; did not see Macy or 
 Arthur. I was anxious to get back here, because I did 
 not know what this raid might amount to. JEntre nous, 
 this little town came nearer being taken last week than 
 you or I imagined. One Major-general, who talked 
 to me to-day about it, thinks they will be back again 
 soon. The Sixth Corps returns to the Army of the 
 Potomac at once, likewise the Nineteenth Corps. 
 
 I saw O. W. Holmes a moment this morning. He 
 goes home to be mustered out. I send you a poor pho- 
 tograph taken from a larger picture which Brady has of 
 me here. They are not good. I go down to Peters- 
 burg to-morrow. I can't tell you how much I regret 
 having missed an hour with you last Thursday, but 
 trust we are yet to have our little talk out. 
 
 I found your " In Memoriam " here on my return. 
 I like it very much. Write to me when you have 
 plenty of leisure, Frank (First Division Ninth Corps), 
 and don't forget to remember 
 
 Yours, 
 
 FRANK BARTLETT. 
 
 Pardon the haste, brevity, and style of this letter, and 
 heap coals of fire on my head in return. Good-by. 
 
 F. 
 
 You are at liberty to burn the picture if you object 
 to it.
 
 110 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 
 
 On the 19th of July, 1864, he left Washington 
 for the army in front of Petersburg, going to City 
 Point by way of Fortress Monroe, to take com- 
 mand of the First Brigade of Ledlie's Division, 
 Ninth Army Corps. 
 
 July 21. Steady firing all the time. Headquarters 
 under shell and bullets. Danger of being hit any minute, 
 asleep or awake. I expect I shall get killed as soon as 
 I go down to the lines. 
 
 July 22. I assume command to-morrow. Hate to 
 relieve Colonel Gould, who has done so well. I must 
 write home to-morrow. They must be prepared to hear 
 bad news any moment. Under fire constantly. As I 
 write, a bullet strikes the tree near the tent. Another 
 goes humming a few feet over. People at home do not 
 appreciate what this army is doing and suffering for 
 them. 
 
 July 23. Assume command of First Brigade 
 
 Quiet day. Occasional bullets through camp 
 
 10 P. M. The bullets are flying through here very 
 lively to-night. 
 
 " Now I lay me down to sleep, 
 I pray the Lord my soul to keep, 
 If I should die before I wake .... 
 
 HEADQUARTERS FIRST BRIGADE, FIRST DIVISION, 
 
 NINTH ARMY CORPS. 
 BEFORE PETERSBURG, VA., July 23, 1864. Evening. 
 
 MY DEAR MOTHER, This is the first day since I 
 left Washington that I have been able to write at all. 
 Perhaps you will have thought that you ought to hear 
 from me before this reaches you ; but I have taken the
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETt 1 . Ill 
 
 first opportunity and have not forgotten your injuno- 
 tions. I left Washington Tuesday p. M., reached here 
 Wednesday P. M. Came from Fortress Monroe on de- 
 spatch boat with General Ingalls, Chief Quartermaster 
 of Army, with whom I dined at City Point, where his 
 headquarters are. By chance found the Chaplain at 
 the Point, and sent for my horses. Ned and Billy were 
 both looking finely. After dinner started for the front. 
 Got as far as my Quartermaster's camp, and as it began 
 to rain, I stayed there all night with him. I slept ver^ 
 well my first night on the ground. In the morning a 
 black snake over six feet long was killed within a few 
 feet of my bed. After breakfast, rode on up to Division 
 Hospital, where I found Dr. White, and several old let- 
 ters, among them the Nut's of June 6, which I found 
 time to read to-day. Afterwards went to Burnside's 
 Headquarters to report for duty. He was not in. I 
 dined with some of the staff; saw the General later. 
 He was glad to see me. I am assigned, as I supposed, to 
 the command of the First Brigade, First Division. Gen- 
 eral Ledlie commands the Division. There are now six 
 Massachusetts regiments and one Pennsylvania in the 
 brigade, not numbering more than 1,300 men altogether, 
 present for duty. If the regiments were filled up it 
 would be one of the largest and best brigades in the 
 Army, being all Massachusetts troops. I am trying to 
 get C. B. Amory, of Jamaica Plains, formerly of the 
 Twenty-fourth Regiment, who has been appointed As- 
 sistant Adjutant-general, transferred to this brigade. 
 I shall use for the present the staff that is here .... 
 the surgeon, a Dr. Ingalls, of Boston, Fifty-ninth Regi- 
 ment, who is very much of a gentleman. I slept last
 
 112 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 night and the night before at Division Headquarters with 
 Adjutant-general Mills, Fifty-sixth. He was hoping that 
 I would take the Division, but it seems Ledlie has with- 
 drawn his resignation. The brigade is in two lines of 
 breastworks, one hundred yards apart, in the front of 
 the enemy's works and within two hundred yards in 
 some places. Brigade Headquarters are two hundred 
 and fifty yards in rear of the second line. Division 
 Headquarters two hundred yards in rear of brigade ; 
 so you see all are in easy musket range of the enemy. 
 "We are in pine woods, the trees not very thick. The 
 Headquarters have to be protected by a stockade of logs 
 against bullets, which are constantly coming through 
 here. Four officers of the Fifty-seventh have been hit 
 since I got here, one killed, three very badly wounded, 
 in the second line. Our stockade does not protect us 
 against shells, which fall in front and rear of us, but 
 have not hit the Headquarters yet. Some fall way in 
 the rear of Division Headquarters, and some near Corps 
 Headquarters, which are about one fourth of a mile in 
 rear of Division. We have a stockade to protect the 
 horses, too, but one of the orderlies' horses and one of 
 General Ledlie's were killed the other day. A bullet 
 goes whizzing over my tent every few minutes as I 
 write, and goes thud into one of the trees near, with 
 a sound that makes you think what a headache that 
 would have given you if your head had been where the 
 tree was. The bullets patter like rain at times against 
 the outside of this stockade of logs, the inside of which 
 my elbow touches as I write. It is a continual rattle of 
 musketry, sometimes swelling into a roar along the line, 
 and varied with the artillery and mortars. So you see
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 113 
 
 we are liable at any moment to be struck, even while 
 reading a paper or eating dinner. A bullet went 
 through Dr. Anderson's table as he was eating break- 
 fast this morning. You must be prepared to hear the 
 worst of me at any time. God grant it may not come, 
 for your sake, and for the sake of all I love and who love 
 me at home. But you must be prepared for it. It is 
 wearing to body and mind, this being constantly under 
 fire. People at the North who are enjoying themselves 
 and thinking of nothing but making money, little ap- 
 preciate what this brave army is enduring every day and 
 hour for them, and how much more cheerful and hope- 
 ful they are than people at home. I wish some of the 
 patriotic (?) ones at home who are making speeches (and 
 money), would just come out here and spend a week, 
 even back here at my Headquarters. They would not 
 care to go down to the lines where the men are day and 
 night fighting for their security and safety. I came 
 over here this morning and assumed command. To- 
 morrow I must go down and examine the lines, which 
 is of course dangerous ; but trust I shall get back safely. 
 I shan't go there any oftener than is necessary, but it is 
 my duty to visit them occasionally. To give you an 
 idea of the firing that is going on constantly, I will 
 count the shots in the next minute. It is more quiet 
 than usual to-night. Eighty-one, and one heavy mortar 
 shell, which burst in the air between here and second 
 line, but sounded as if it were in the next tent. 
 "There!" at that moment a bullet went whizzing 
 through between mine and the one next, just above the 
 stockade (which is a little higher than your head when 
 Bitting), and struck down somewhere between here and 
 8
 
 114 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 
 
 Division Headquarters, near where the horses are. So 
 you see this letter is written literally under fire. I am 
 feeling very well, my leg is better in the saddle than it 
 was before. I have got my valise, etc., and shall be 
 quite comfortable in a day or two (under the circum- 
 stances), if I am spared so long. I intend to have this 
 stockade built higher to-morrow, so as to afford more 
 protection from bullets. If the rebs knew just where 
 our Headquarters are, they would shell us out from 
 here in three minutes ; but fortunately they don't, and 
 can only guess. They guess inconveniently near at 
 times. As I may not have time to write, you can let 
 Frank Palfrey and Ben see this letter, if you see them, 
 and if the Nut chooses to copy it she can, and send it to 
 Aunt. 
 
 There goes another bullet. Frank Palfrey will 
 readily understand and appreciate our position here. I 
 hope I shall hear from you soon. The mail comes reg- 
 ularly every night. I will write as often as I can. 
 Have other letters to write to-night, so will finish this. 
 There is one pleasant thing to relieve the wear of this, 
 I have a good band here at Headquarters, and it 
 plays at intervals through the day and evening, pro- 
 tected by a stockade. The rebs have the benefit of it 
 as much as I do, but I can't help it. They favor us 
 with a band sometimes. Tell the Nut and Miss Barnett 
 that they just played " When Johnny comes Marching 
 Home," and " Faust." " Thud ; " there go two ugly bul- 
 lets into a tree near by, one of them, George thinks, went 
 through the upper part of the tent. How should you 
 like to lie down and go to sleep with this going on all
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 115 
 
 aight ? I expect to sleep soundly. I have for two 
 nights. With much love to all, 
 
 Ever your affectionate son, 
 
 W. F. B. 
 
 Zip prrrrrr goes the last bullet you will hear, for I 
 close this now. That one went over to Division Head- 
 quarters. Here 's another before I could get my pen 
 off the paper. Good-night. 
 
 July 24. Quiet night. I go now down to the lines. 
 I hope I may get safely back. If not, His will be done. 
 .... Went through the second line. Got back safely, 
 thank God Bullets flying very lively to-night. 
 
 HEADQUARTERS FIRST BRIGADE. 
 
 July 24, 1864, 10 P. M. 
 
 DEAR MOTHER, I write, as I promised. I got 
 back safely from the lines. Just before I went there, a 
 captain of the Fifty-sixth and two lieutenants of the 
 Fifty-seventh were badly wounded by a shell which fell 
 and exploded where they were sitting. Lieutenant 
 Bowman of the Fifty-seventh cannot live. 
 
 This makes six officers of the Fifty-seventh who have 
 been killed or badly wounded since I have been here. 
 It is too bad. The firing has not ceased since I wrote 
 you last, nor indeed since I first got within sound of it. 
 The bullets are singing around my tent as usual. Spat ! 
 there goes one into the tree, making the bark fly. It is 
 raining to-night, but it does not diminish the ardor of 
 these patriotic sportsmen, who keep up their target 
 practice with great zeal. 
 
 The weather has been very cool and pleasant. 
 
 I slept beautifully last night, and hope to to-night.
 
 116 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 Love to all at home. No letters yet ; two Advertisers 
 
 to-night, 20th, 21st 
 
 Affectionately, 
 
 W. F. B. 
 
 Did I tell you I went over to see the Twentieth yes- 
 terday ? Saw Patten, John Perry, and Dr. Hay ward. 
 They are a mile and a half in rear of us. 
 
 July 25 General of trenches to-morrow 
 
 Relieved Colonel Thomas, who was at Pittsfield when I 
 went there first. He commands negro brigade. How 
 we drift together and separate in this world ! 
 
 July 26. Brigade reviewed by General Ledlie. Did 
 not make very good appearance. Officers, even of old 
 
 regiments, ignorant Shell burst all around these 
 
 Headquarters in a very disagreeable way. I pray hourly 
 that I may be spared. 
 
 July 27 Shells this p. M. come fearfully close. 
 
 Orders to be ready to move at a moment's notice 
 
 God spare me for Agnes' sake and for dear mother's 
 sake ! I fear it will break their hearts if I am killed 
 here. That is what makes it all the harder for me, 
 thinking of their grief. 
 
 HEADQUARTERS FIRST BRIGADE, FIRST DIVISION, NINTH A. C. 
 BEFORE PETERSBURG, VA., July 27, 1864. 
 
 Yours of the 21st-24th reached me last evening. It 
 is pleasant to hear you talk, even at this distance, where 
 the sound of artillery and musketry is heard from the 
 time you wake till you sleep again. A stranger, if he 
 should at this moment be put down at my Headquarters 
 to make a little friendly visit, would hardly be prepared 
 to carry on a connected conversation with these mortar
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 117 
 
 shells bursting over and around him. At this very in- 
 stant one explodes, two three just over and in rear 
 of these tents. It is wonderful how we escape. The 
 pieces go humming in all directions. My stockade stops 
 all bullets, so that while behind that I am safe from 
 those. But these shells are inconveniently searching, 
 and dropped with a precision which would interest an 
 amateur (if he was iron-plated). 
 
 I don't know how long this thing is to continue. 
 The Second Corps crossed the James at Deep Bottom 
 this A. M. at daylight, and has met with some success, so 
 a telegram from Headquarters tells us. Taken four 
 guns, etc. My brigade is under orders to move at a 
 moment's notice, being in the reserve line to-day. (We 
 occupy the front line by brigades.) I should n't be very 
 sorry to leave this place. General Ledlie still commands 
 the Division. He has not been confirmed, but he ranks 
 me by appointment. He is not much liked by the of- 
 ficers of the Division, and it seems they hoped I was to 
 succeed him, but I think I had rather try a brigade be- 
 fore I venture any higher, although the whole Division 
 does not number so many as a full brigade of four regi- 
 ments should. I have six Massachusetts regiments and 
 one Pennsylvania. 
 
 I am glad McLaughlin has the Fifty-seventh. If he 
 fills it up it will make a good regiment. 
 
 I am to have Charlie Amory, of Jamaica Plains, for 
 A. A. General, a very good one, I am told. Tom Ste- 
 venson had him appointed for him. Frank Wells, of 
 H. U. 1864, I have asked to have commissioned in the 
 Fifty-seventh to make an aide of. He is a gentleman, 
 slever I believe, and has seen a little service. There is
 
 118 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 quite a collection of alumni here. Mills, Jarvis, Weld, 
 1860 ; Shurtleff, Lamb, of 1861. Mills is to be made 
 Captain and A. A. G., I hear. I wish we were together 
 this warm day, and certainly don't wish that you were 
 here. 
 
 Paradoxical as it may seem, I have a, floor to my tent 
 of " store boards," and a bunk of the same, with hay in 
 it. A meal at Corps Headquarters keeps fresh in your 
 memory the- existence of ice, claret, etc. It is like griz 
 zly bear hunting. So long as you hunt the bear it ia 
 very pleasant pastime ; but if the bear takes it into his 
 head to hunt you, it has its drawbacks. I hope I shall 
 pull through safely, Frank, and get to see you again; 
 but when or where, is beyond my ken. 
 
 I think physically I shall be able to endure it, al- 
 though this siege work, which won't admit of the use of 
 a horse, but requires that you should move very lively 
 across certain localities marked " Dangerous," is pretty 
 severe. 
 
 I have much that I must leave unsaid, but not the 
 injunction to write me a few lines when you can. 
 
 With kind remembrances to all your family, 
 
 I remain ever yours, FRANK. 
 
 Friday, July 29. Very warm Afternoon, sent 
 
 for, Division Headquarters. We storm the works to- 
 morrow at daylight Our Division leads. I hardly dare 
 
 hope to live through it God have mercy If I 
 
 could only ride, or had two legs, so I could lead my 
 brigade, I believe they would follow me anywhere. I 
 will try as it is. God have pity on dear mother, Agnes, 
 and all loved ones. March the brigade at one and half
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 119 
 
 (July 30) through covered way to front line. Mine sprung 
 at 4.40. We rushed across the open field. I got up to 
 the enemy's works about as soon as any one. Got into 
 the crater. Took the first and second lines of the enemy. 
 Held them till after one, when we were driven back by 
 repeated charges. I fought them for an hour after they 
 held the whole line, excepting the crater where we were, 
 their flag within seven feet of ours across the work. 
 They threw bayonets and bottles on us, and- we returned, 
 for we got out of ammunition. At last, to save further 
 slaughter, there being no hope of our being rescued, we 
 gave it up. That crater during that day I shall never 
 forget. A shell knocked down a bowlder of clay on to 
 my wood leg and crushed it to pieces, killing the man 
 next me. I surrendered to General Mahone. 
 
 July 31. Slept on a field of stones last night, negroes 
 and all together, without any covering. Not cold. 
 Nothing to eat all this time. Start for town of Peters- 
 burg. I was carried in ambulance. My belt taken from 
 me by Captain Porter, Provost Marshal Hill's corps, the 
 thief. Put on small island near the South Side Railroad 
 depot. No shelter or food. I drink too much water. 
 Thirst makes me crazy. We wouldn't treat cattle as 
 we are being treated. Slept on some straw to night ; de- 
 lirious all night. Very weak. I cannot touch the food, 
 raw bacon. 
 
 August 1. Start this A. M. for Danville. Ride in 
 dirty freight cars. Got to Burkesville Junction about 
 iJiiie. Wait there all day long in heat and dirt. Am 
 getting weaker every hour. Train does not come for us 
 till nearly nine P. M. So full that I had to ride on nar- 
 row platform of last car, which was a passenger-car, the
 
 120 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 
 
 conductor's, but he would not let us go in it. So thret 
 of us sat on this place all night, Colonel Marshall, 
 Captain Amory, and I, the most horrible night I ever 
 passed. Could not sleep, all cramped up. Humane 
 treatment of a prisoner of my rank, sick and wounded. 
 Southern chivalry ! Reached Danville early. 
 
 Tuesday, August 2. Carried in a dirty wagon without 
 any cover to the prison, a filthy place, an old warehouse 
 and stores. We were on the first floor, about three 
 hundred, as thick as we could lie. No ventilation. I 
 saw the Doctor in the morning ; he said he would send 
 me to the hospital. I could not eat anything ; am fever- 
 ish and so weak. No crutches. I have to be partly 
 carried, partly hop along, when I move. Ration issued, 
 corn bread, thick loaf, and bacon. I can't touch either; 
 still drink water. If I do not get away from here very 
 soon, I never shall. Wagon came for me about six, an 
 open wagon or cart, used to carry bacon in, all covered 
 with dirt and grease ; gravel spread on the bottom to 
 cover the grease ; ride over rough road to hospital ; 
 am in a tent, old and ragged, but airy; good breeze. 
 (Small-pox.) 
 
 Wednesday, 3d. Hospital outside Danville. The past 
 few days seem like a horrible dream which I can never 
 forget. The misery that I have suffered is more than I 
 can ever tell. I was brought here that night in a filthy 
 cart from the prison. I could not have lived there much 
 longer. I have a straw bed here and slept well last 
 night. Got some milk this morning. Pain in my 
 Dowels very bad ; very weak. Sent for tooth-brush this 
 morn, by Doctor, $6. Milk, $1 pt. I suppose they are 
 rery anxious at home about me. I hope I shall be able
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 121 
 
 to write soon ; will try to write up the past few days. 
 Wagon sent for me to go back to prison said I could 
 not go. Wrote a note to Major Morfit, commanding, 
 telling I was too weak. He let me stay. Took the 
 captain who was here. 
 
 Thursday, 4th. Get no better, yet wrote to General 
 Lee and Secretary of War this morning, asking for my 
 exchange or parole. I hope they are not much worried 
 at home. I am glad they do not know the truth. 
 Much pain still; bowels very weak; no appetite. No 
 one can ever know the misery that I have suffered the 
 past few days. I don't know how long I can endure 
 this. It seems to be my lot to suffer. I must not be 
 ungrateful for all God's mercies though, in sparing my 
 life. 
 
 Friday, 5th. No better. Wrote mother, hope it will 
 get through. Officers sent to Columbia, S. C., yester- 
 day. Find two or three old Eclectic Magazines to read, 
 Rogers's Poetical Works, and Caudle Lectures. I never 
 knew what silly things those were before. 
 
 Changed $50 U. S. for $200 C. S. currency. 
 
 PRISONERS' HOSPITAL, 
 DANVILLE, VA., August 5, 1864. 
 
 DEAR MOTHER, I will write a few lines in the hope 
 that they may reach you at some time. You know, of 
 course, that I was taken prisoner, that my leg (wooden) 
 was crushed; the man next me was killed by the same 
 shell. I was very much used up and have been very 
 weak from diarrhoea since. I was brought from the 
 prison to this place night before last. The other offi- 
 cers were all sent to Columbia, S. C., yesterday, Colonel
 
 122 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 Weld and Captain Amory included ; so I am all alone 
 I shall be sent there when I am well enough, I suppose. 
 I am in a tent here, and have plenty of fresh air. I hope 
 no blame is given me for the failure of Saturday. I 
 certainly did all in my power. I held the pit with 
 hardly any force after the rest of the line had been re- 
 taken. The rebel flag was within six feet of mine, just 
 the ridge of dirt between, for nearly an hour. It was 
 impossible to withraw without sacrificing all the men, so 
 I held on as long as possible in hope of reinforcements. 
 The negroes were crowded into the same pit with us 
 when they retreated in such confusion, and we have 
 been treated worse, an account of being taken with them. 
 I shall get better here, I think. I don't suppose you 
 will be able to send me anything. Tufts, the Massachu- 
 setts Agent in Washington, will know. Write me. Not 
 more than one page is allowed, I believe. Address 
 Prisoner of War, Danville, Va. Has George got home 
 yet? And my horses? Take good care of Ned. I 
 made arrangements to have him sent home in case any- 
 thing happened to me. The Chaplain and Dr. White 
 promised to see to it. If you can send me a small box 
 with something to eat and drink, some tea and coffee, 
 I should like it. It might get to me. Send it through 
 Tufts, Massachusetts Agent in Washington. Send this 
 letter to A. P. I shall not be able to write any more at 
 present. I have Uncle Edwin's " letter " with me, and 
 may be able to use it. Don't be worried about me, I 
 shall be well soon. I shall get a pair of crutches made 
 BO I can get about soon. My half-dollar pocket-piece 
 did me good service ; brought me eight dollars confeder- 
 ate money, with which I bought a tooth-hitsh. Milk
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 123 
 
 two dollars qt., etc. My love to all. Let them write 
 me often ; some will get through. 
 
 Your affectionate son, 
 
 W. F. BARTLETT. 
 Brigadier-general U. 8. A., Prisoner of War. 
 
 (Envelopes, $8. a package.) 
 
 There has been some talk of exchanging sick and 
 wounded prisoners. I hope it will be effected. 
 
 August 6. Little better this morning; shall try to 
 Bend this to-day. "Write on one leaf, but send the whole 
 sheet and an envelope. 
 
 AG. P., I have the little red velvet case with me 
 all safe. Don't be worried about me. F. 
 
 Saturday, 6th. Dr. Hunter put certificate on my letter 
 to Secretary of War. Got dozen eggs to-day, $5.00 ; 
 feel little better to-day ; pain bowels still ; rain this 
 p. M. ; my tent all rags, open at both ends. Just a week 
 since I was taken ; what a week of misery. 
 
 Sunday, 7th. Beautiful Sabbath morning, 11 A. M. I 
 wonder if they are at church now at home. It must 
 have been an anxious week for them, but they don't 
 dream of what I have been suffering, fortunately for 
 them. Doctor gives me some new pills ; my liver is de- 
 ranged. Read Moore ; wish I had my little Church Ser- 
 vice here, I could be reading the same lesson that Agnes 
 is this morning. Hattie's birth-day, I believe. I should 
 like to be at home to-day. Began to carve out a pipe 
 yesterday. 
 
 Monday, 8th. Letter to General Lee goes this morn- 
 tng, probably. Another wretched, painful, weary day. 
 Mustard poultice on bowels this morn. Never passed
 
 124 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 such a horrible night as last ; awake all night, passing 
 blood freely. The doctor could n't know anything about 
 his business, and does n't care. Keeps giving me pills. 
 Bought pint of brandy, $25; miserable stuff. Apple 
 brandy, tastes like burning-fluid. 
 
 Tuesday, 9th. More comfortable night than the one 
 before, less pain ; continue to run off the same. Long, 
 long day ; three gentlemen called this p. M., one left a 
 few tomatoes. I can't eat them. Indeed, I don't eat 
 anything. Another sleepless, painful night to-night. 
 If I die here, I hope my friends (written 10th) will sift 
 the matter and learn the truth. 
 
 Wednesday, 10th. General Young, C. S. A., called to 
 see me this A. M., offered to take letter to Ould ; wrote 
 and sent down to him this P. M. Hope he will succeed. 
 I get no better, same pain. Weaker every day. I can- 
 not last long at this rate. If I could only live to get 
 in our lines or to Baltimore, I would die contented. 
 Mother would be there. 
 
 This Dr. Hunter does n't take the slightest interest in 
 my getting well, or else his indifference is put on to con- 
 ceal his ignorance. 
 
 DANVILLE, VA., August 10, 1864. 
 BRIG.-GEN. W. F. BARTLETT, U. S. A. : 
 
 General, I am directed by General Young to say to 
 you that he will take great pleasure in handing your 
 letter to Judge Ould in person, and that he will use 
 every means in his power to procure you an exchange, 
 or parole of honor, immediately. If he should fail, 
 General Young will do everything in his power to alle- 
 viate your pain, or to promote your recovery.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 125 
 
 You will hear from General Young as soon as he has 
 Been Judge Ould. 
 
 I am, General, 
 
 Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 I. PINCKNEY THOMAS, 
 
 Lt. $ A. D. C. 
 
 Thursday, llth. Doctor not come to-day, little loss. 
 I am little more comfortable, less discharges ; very, very 
 weak. If I go now I must go on stretchers. No sleep 
 after 12. 
 
 Friday, 12th. No better, no sleep after 12. Some 
 milk porridge this morning. My tongue is fearfully 
 coated, brown. Dr. Hunter just glanced at it and says, 
 " Oh, yes, your tongue looks better." I said I did not 
 agree with him. 
 
 Saturday, 13th. "Worse and weaker to-day. No sur- 
 geon, no medicine, no food suitable. I shall not write 
 much more in this book. I hope it will reach home. 
 Letter from Amory at Columbia. Patrick McHugh, 
 Co. E., One-hundredth Illinois, has promised to take it. 
 Nothing from General Young. 
 
 The following entry appears to belong to this 
 time. It is pencilled on a fly-leaf of his pocket 
 diary, without a date : 
 
 It is hard to die here without a single friend, not 
 even an officer of our army, to hold my hand and take 
 my last words. I hardly dare trust to my body or any- 
 thing else getting home. 
 
 Sunday, \th. Felt a little better after sat up this 
 4.. M. ; have got a prayer-book, great comfort in it ; have
 
 126 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 been reading it all the morning. Seventieth Psalm, 
 fourteenth day lesson. It is well they do not know how 
 miserable I am. Have been taking comfort from this 
 book all day ; have been praying for forgiveness and help. 
 I feel a little better to-day. God is very merciful. I 
 shall never forget this day. I believe I shall be a better 
 man if I live. I wonder if Agnes thought of me as she 
 read the service this morning. Better all through the 
 day. 
 
 Monday, 15th. Slept well last night. Better this 
 morning. My bowels are more quiet and give me less 
 pain. Doctor got bottle " blueberry wine " yesterday, 
 $20.00 ; poor stuff, some stimulant. Read prayer-book 
 with more interest than I ever felt before. The change 
 was very sudden. Saturday night was the worst night 
 I ever had, yet Sunday morning I sat up and seemed to 
 feel better. Took calomel and opium pills and white- 
 oak-bark solution. I can hardly account for the change. 
 Mouth not so awfully dry as it has been. God is very 
 merciful and has heard my prayers. 
 
 Tuesday, 1 6th. Good night last. Feel better to-day. 
 Believe I have turned the corner and am improving 
 such a change from my feelings Saturday. I hope I 
 shall continue to improve. Nothing from General Young 
 yet. It is very strange. I am not so impatient now 
 that I am getting better. It is not the horror of living 
 but of dying here, that troubles me. 
 
 Wednesday, 17th. Stronger still. Rain (last night) 
 came through the tent on to my face in torrents. Sit- 
 ting up all day, making rings, etc., of peach-stones. 
 Such a change, 1 can hardly realize it, nor be grateful 
 enough.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 127 
 
 Heavy rain and squall to-night ; all wet, bed and bed- 
 ding ; the tent is so open that it did not blow down. 
 
 Thursday, 18th. Another long day, merely weary wait- 
 ing ; read a book on birds. I am improving still, gain- 
 ing strength. Manage to get milk and eggs and apples. 
 Wrote Agnes a few lines on scrap of paper. Rain every 
 day now. Get no news from outside, know nothing of 
 what is going on. I wish our government could see the 
 suffering that their delay and quibbling about exchange 
 is causing. Men dying every hour, reproving their gov- 
 ernment for forgetting them and letting them lie here. 
 In Georgia it is worse. 
 
 Friday, 19^. Another day gone. I am still improv- 
 ing. Walk out on crutches a few steps. Am very, 
 very weak. Rainy still. Major Morfit, commanding 
 prison, must have noticed the scrap of paper on which I 
 wrote Agnes, for to-day he sent me up several sheets of 
 note-paper with his compliments. Reading all day, 
 "Artist's Bride," Emerson Bennett. Poor trash. I 
 long to hear from home. I have an egg for break- 
 fast now, with some toast, and clover or hay tea ; for 
 dinner, boiled rice which has to be examined; for sup- 
 per, baked apple and tea. 
 
 Saturday, 20th. Another day and week gone. Three 
 weeks to-night since my capture. It seems like three 
 months at least. What a difference though between my 
 condition now and one week ago ! I did not then ex- 
 pect to be alive now. My only hope was that my body 
 should get sent home. To-night I am well, getting 
 stronger every day. Walked out on crutches a little ; 
 very weak still. But how much I have to be grateful 
 for ! I hope I may never forget it. I wish I could re-
 
 128 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 
 
 lieve their anxiety at home. And Agnes, I fear she 
 worries. I am glad they have not known the worst. 
 They think I am safe and comfortably off, I expect. 
 
 PRISONERS' HOSPITAL, 
 DANVILLE, VA., August 20, 1864. 
 
 MY DEAR MOTHER, I have been very ill with dys- 
 entery, consequent on the exposure after the over-exer- 
 tion and exhaustion on the 30th of July. I am still very 
 weak, but have turned the corner and am out of danger. 
 General Young, C. S. A., came to see me while I was 
 sick, and told me he would see Commissioner Ould when 
 he went to Richmond, and do all that he could to get 
 me sent to our lines (either exchanged or paroled), 
 where I could soon get well, or at least die among 
 friends. I have not heard from him yet. It is more 
 than a week, and as he promised to write as soon as he 
 saw Ould, I fear his letter must have miscarried. I am 
 not so anxious, now that I am getting better. Still I 
 hope we shall be exchanged before long. All the other 
 generals have been exchanged down at Charleston, S. C. 
 I shall probably go to Columbia, S. C., as soon as I get 
 well enough. I had a letter from Captain Amory from 
 there a few days ago. They are much more comfortable 
 there, and want me to come. I shall be glad to get any- 
 where, where I can have company. I walked out a few 
 steps on crutches to-day for the first time. I am still 
 very weak. I have heard nothing from our lines since 
 our capture. See Richmond paper occasionally. Give 
 my love to all at home, and to Aunt Carry and Uncle 
 Edwin. Send them a copy of this letter if it reaches 
 you. Much love, W. F. B.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 129 
 
 I hope my horses and all my things got home safely. 
 Dr. White promised to see to it. 
 
 August 23. Still improving and gaining strength. 
 
 W. 
 
 Sunday, 2lst. This has been rather a pleasant Sab- 
 bath day. I have so much to be grateful for. I had a 
 very good dinner. My appetite has returned. Have been 
 reading Prayer-book and Rogers's "Italy." To-night 
 smoked my first and only cigar, one that has been in my 
 coat-pocket all the time. Just six weeks ago to-night, 
 at this very time, I went to see Agnes at the homestead. 
 Where shall I be six weeks hence ? In our lines ? I 
 fear the hope is vain. I wonder if they have been think- 
 ing of me at home to-day as much as I have of them. 
 I expect they have not as much spare time. Perhaps 
 they think that now I am out of danger, and on the 
 whole it 's rather a good thing ! ! 
 
 Monday, 22d. Evening. Mark off another day ; one 
 day nearer home and liberty. Read " Villette ; " don't like 
 it much. My friend Jones brought me some nice beans 
 for dinner from the garden. I gave him some sugar in 
 return. To-night he brought me some peaches. Ru- 
 mors of fighting going on. Oh, what would n't I give 
 for a New York or Boston paper to-night, or a letter. 
 If I had two legs, I would not stay here long. Played 
 chess to-day with Pat. He beats me. I cannot get 
 interested in it. He beats me at checkers too. I be- 
 lieve I am getting stupid. I must get where I can have 
 somebody congenial to talk with. I dread the journey 
 to Columbia, two days. What are they doing at home 
 to-night ? I wish I could look in, invisible. 
 9
 
 130 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 Tuesday, 23d. Another day gone without incident. 
 Holden, who has been in charge of the hospital here, a 
 private in Twenty-third Va., has gone home on a fur- 
 lough. I must remember him, he has been very friendly. 
 Waters is now in charge. Beat Pat two games chess 
 to-day. I am out of reading. Have taken the Bible. I 
 find it interesting, " Joshua." Herman Viertel, my 
 Dutchman, washed my pants and handkerchiefs to-day. 
 I have sat in deshabille meantime. Kanna, a man of 
 West Virginia, a prisoner, has been entertaining me 
 with some accounts of his adventuring. If I had paper 
 I would write down things that I hear and see from day 
 to day. It would make a very interesting book. I 
 must try to remember them all. I fear I shan't do jus- 
 tice to some of them. 
 
 Wednesday, 24th. Good-by one more day. Major 
 Morfit up here this eve ; looked in to see me ; thinks my 
 chance for exchange just as good here as at Columbia. 
 I don't know how much he knows about it, but I think 
 very little. Apropos, an epigram occurs. 
 
 Our jailer bears the name of Morfit 
 A name on which if any saw fit 
 By making rhymes his life to forfeit 
 He 'd swear By Allah and the Prophet 
 For nothing was this Major more fit. 
 
 Thursday, 25th. Very warm to-night. We have had 
 some success on the Weldon Railroad. They have 
 stopped our wheat bread ; nothing but this coarse corn 
 bread for these sick men. It will kill them at a fearful 
 rate ; indeed, it is beginning to appear in the number of 
 corpses that are carried by my tent to-day. Many will 
 die to-night, the ward-master tells me. God have mercy
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 131 
 
 on their souls, and console and sustain and protect theirs 
 at home ! I had a good dinner to-day, chicken broth- 
 Madigan, whom I have won with the filthy lucre, se- 
 cured it for me. He is one of the cooks here. My 
 friend Jones of the garden brought his flour biscuits to- 
 night. He 's a trump. 
 
 Friday ', 26th. This morning after breakfast, Waters 
 came to my tent and told me he had an order from Ma- 
 jor Morfit, to send me to his office to go to Richmond ! 
 Can it be exchange ? If so, God has quickly heard and 
 answered my prayers. I got my baggage together, a 
 cotton havei'sack, my cane, and wooden foot. In the 
 first I have some tea and hard bread, in the latter noth- 
 ing ! I was carted to Major Morfit in the same old wagon, 
 without springs, waited at his office till seven, when went 
 to the train, waited on the platform till nine. Then the 
 train came jammed full, no lights, no seats, one man 
 with me as guard. I must leave a description of this 
 night for some other place. 
 
 Saturday, 27th. Of course awake at daylight. Reached 
 Burkesville Junction shortly after, where we lay in the 
 sun all one day, en route to Danville. Reach Richmond 
 at nine. In Richmond at last. Saw Ould. To go 
 North by first flag truce boatff I wish they knew it at 
 home this night. Meantime I go to " Libby," and here 
 I am in Libby Prison Hospital, rather comfortably off. 
 Sedgwick, Twentieth, here. I shall sleep to-night after 
 last night's experience. How can I be grateful enough 
 to God for his great mercy. 
 
 Sunday, 28th. Quiet, pleasant day. I live compara- 
 tively well here, and am quite comfortable. More pris- 
 oners come in to-day. Lieutenant-colonel Walker, Han-
 
 132 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 rock's Assistant Adjutant-general, brought in recaptured, 
 taken first at Reams Station ; got within thirty yards 
 of our pickets on James, which he swam. Tells me 
 Macy is badly hurt. I dreamt it a week ago. Patten 
 lost a leg. Walker was dressed in rags and filth, but 
 how undisguisable the gentleman is. I was very much 
 taken with him. He knew me, but I had never seen 
 him. Roast mutton for dinner. I am treated with 
 marked consideration just now for some reason or other. 
 The surgeon marked for me good diet. 
 
 LIBBT PRISON (HOSPITAL), 
 
 RICHMOND, August 28, 1864. 
 
 DEAR MOTHER, I was sent here from Danville on 
 Friday night. Traveled all night. I arrived here yes- 
 terday morning ; went to see Colonel Ould. I am " to 
 be sent North by first flag of truce boat," so I hope I 
 may reach home before this letter does. I am still very 
 feeble and shall not be fit for duty for several months. 
 Nor then for active field duty. I am very well treated 
 here ; l as Colonel Ould said to me, " Libby is not half 
 so bad as it has been represented." 
 
 Hoping to see you soon, I am ever your affectionate 
 BOD, W. F. BARTLETT, 
 
 Brigadier General U. S. A. 
 
 Monday, 29<A. Pleasant, comfortable day. Nothing 
 new. Read " Heart of Mid-Lothian." Played chess, 
 Captain Adams, Fifty-sixth. Sedgwick, Twentieth, is 
 here ; not well, looks badly. Very homesick I expect. 
 
 1 He told his mother afterwards that the statement as to good 
 treatment was inserted to meet the contingency of the opening of 
 his letter.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 133 
 
 I hope the flag of truce boat will be here by Wednesday. 
 Still improving in health. I shall be quite well by the 
 time I get home if I keep on, and the boat does n't come 
 for a month or two ! 
 
 Tuesday, 30th. This morning a letter was put in my 
 hands, directed in father's well-known hand, from mother, 
 dated August 3d. It was a comfort to get it, although 
 of so old a date. She says F. W. P. had written ; that 
 I have not received. My horses I trust are sent home 
 ere this. Dr. White promised to send them. George 
 should have known enough to have started for home 
 with all my other things. 
 
 Wednesday, 31st. The boat is here. We shall go to- 
 morrow I expect. To-day the steward brought me a 
 note from Arthur, who is up stairs. I sent to Major 
 Turner, asking to let him come down. I had no idea 
 he was here. Everybody is anxious to-night, hoping it 
 may be his turn to-morrow. I shall leave Arthur every- 
 thing that I can. I trust this is my last night in this 
 horrible place. I want to be in Baltimore by Sunday. 
 Home and Saratoga by week after. A week at Sara- 
 toga would do me more good than all the medicine in 
 the world. 
 
 Thursday, September 1. Off at last. I gave Arthur 
 all that I had, money, etc., gave him a good breakfast 
 with me, took note for J. D., borrowed $20 of Captain 
 Fox, Thirty-fourth Massachusetts, gave Arthur $10, 
 Sedgwick $10, Arthur my watch-chain. He is very 
 well. Twenty other officers go. Go down to boat in 
 Ambulances of boards. An order comes from Colonel 
 Ould. / cannot go. It is a bitter, bitter blow after get- 
 ring so far. I must go back to prison. Ould says Gea-
 
 134 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 
 
 eral Walker was not sent up. There is some other 
 reason, I think. This is a sad disappointment. My heart 
 sinks at coming back here. I must wait patiently and 
 believe He doeth all things for the best. Poor mother, 
 if she only knew ! 
 
 Friday, 2d. I have learned to play cribbage, it helps 
 to pass the time. I was not allowed even to send mes- 
 sages by those other officers who went yesterday. If I 
 do not go by the next boat I shall give up. 
 
 Try to communicate with Arthur ; failed. He will feel 
 awfully about it. He was so glad to think I was going 
 home. 
 
 Saturday, 3d. I am getting very well, my face is not 
 so thin as when I came here. I am stronger much. I 
 am reading " Harry Lorrequer," etc. I wonder where 
 everybody is of those I love. Agnes is at home. The 
 rest of the family must have returned from Swampscotu 
 We are all at home. Sallie is in Baltimore, etc. I think 
 Miss Wyeth has hardly ventured to leave 129 this sum- 
 mer. Got word to Arthur to-day. 
 
 Sunday, 4th. Cloudy, dull day. Morning, read the 
 service from eleven to twelve. I wish I could look in 
 on them at home to-day. I hope they have got some of 
 my letters, and have got the horses home. To-day I was 
 to have been in Baltimore and comfort and freedom, but 
 here I am still in misery, a prisoner. I have so much 
 to be grateful for, it would be base to murmur at my 
 lot How much worse it might have been! Not so 
 well to-day. No exercise, no out of doors, is beginning 
 to tell. 
 
 Monday, 5th. One day is like another. I play crib- 
 page with Sedgwick, or chess occasionally. The papers
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 135 
 
 say a boat is expected to-morrow. I don't look for it 
 till Sunday or Monday. 
 
 Tuesday, Qth. McClellan is nominated by the Chicago 
 convention for president. I fear there is not much 
 chance of his being elected. I don't like the names that 
 he is associated with. 
 
 Wednesday, 1th. Atlanta is ours. The rebel papers 
 think it is n't a place of any importance after all. The 
 boat is expected daily. I am patient until Monday, 12th. 
 
 Thursday, 8th. My chance of going depends on Gen- 
 eral Walker's coming, I suppose. I shall be able to send 
 some message this time, at least. Some officers will go. 
 Rainy, cold. 
 
 Friday, $th. Have been a little feverish (typhoid) for 
 a day or two ; took dose of quinine last night. Arthur 
 came down to-day. He is pretty well. 
 
 Saturday, IQth. (August 23. What wouldn't I give 
 for the promise that I should be at Saratoga with uncle 
 and aunt by this date ! Nous verrons. I shall probably 
 be in Columbia, S. C.) If I had only got away when I 
 started, the above wish might have been fulfilled ! It 
 is too late, even if I go Monday. The boat is up ; no 
 particulars. I hope I may get off, but hardly expect it. 
 Arthur is coming down from up stairs to-day. 
 
 Sunday, llth. The boat goes to-morrow. Officers 
 permanently disabled are to be sent. My rank will 
 prevent my going under that head. I must expect to 
 be disappointed again. General Walker has not been 
 sent up. Again my hopes and plans go overboard. 
 Wrote few lines to mother and Agnes ; sent by Getting. 
 Sedgwick goes, promised to call see father. I have 
 made up my mind to wait.
 
 136 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 LIBBY PBISON HOSPITAL, September 11, 1864. 
 
 DEAR MOTHER, I write this to send by some of- 
 ficer who goes by this flag of truce boat. I don't know 
 whether any of my letters have reached you or not. I 
 have sent three or four. I was sent to Richmond from 
 Danville, August 26, to be exchanged, and was to have 
 been sent north by first boat. The boat came Sep- 
 tember 1. I was carried down with the other officers in 
 the ambulance, got on board the boat, and then an order 
 came for me to go ashore again and back to prison. 
 Commissioner Ould said I could not go because the 
 (rebel) General Walker, for whom I was to be ex- 
 changed, had not been sent up. So back to prison I 
 came. It was a bitter disappointment, as you can im- 
 agine. I could not even send you messages by the offi- 
 cers who went, or to Major Mulford, our Agent of Ex- 
 change, to send General Walker by the next boat. I 
 hardly dare hope I shall get off on this boat. I suppose 
 it will depend on Walker's being sent up. I got your 
 letter of August 3 on the 30th, the only letter I have 
 had. I have been very sick, but am better. Arthur is 
 up stairs ; he is very well indeed. I was surprised to 
 find him here. I hope my horses and all my things are 
 safely at home long before this. They should have been 
 sent at once. Dr. White promised to attend to it. 
 
 I am comparatively comfortable in this hospital. The 
 suffering among the prisoners here and farther south is 
 too horrible to speak of. It is a disgrace to our govern- 
 ment that they do not make a general exchange. The 
 rebel government is ready and willing to do it, on almost 
 any terms. I hope I shall get away before long. I am 
 improving in health, and so am not so anxious as I was
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 137 
 
 when so low with dysentery. Give my love to all. It 
 is useless for me to write, except by some officer going 
 North, or else I should often (if I could get the paper). 
 Hoping you are all well, I remain ever, 
 
 Your affectionate son, "W. F. B. 
 
 Let Uncle Edwin and A. P. know that you have 
 heard from me, if you get this. Let Arthur's father and 
 mother know that he is in splendid health and spirits. 
 I got permission for him to come down and see me the 
 other day, when I expected to go away. Gave him a 
 good breakfast, and all the money, etc., that I had left. 
 I am going to have him come down again to-day. 
 
 Much love to all, W. 
 
 I wish you would give Mr. Cotting twenty dollars, as 
 a present, for me. He has been very kind to me while 
 I have been here. W. F. B. 
 
 Monday, 12lh. The boat goes this morning. Thirty 
 officers went. It was hard to see them go and think 
 that in twelve hours they would be under the old flag. 
 I hope I shall not see another load go away without me. 
 I am more contented than I was the last time. Arthur 
 being here makes it very pleasant. We play cribbage, 
 talk, smoke, and study Spanish together ; the time passes 
 very quickly. I shall try and keep him down here as 
 long as I can. 
 
 Tuesday, 13th. I have moved out into a quiet corner 
 of the ward; his bed is next mine. Fisher and Bra^y 
 next. A select party. It is a different thing altogether 
 having Arthur here. I don't feel badly about not going
 
 138 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 now. I try not to think of it. Play poker this evening 
 until twelve, first night I have been up so late for a long 
 time. Twenty to Brady. Cold night sleep well. I 
 am very grateful to God for all his goodness. I am 
 well, comfortable, and in good spirits. How much worse 
 off I might be. 
 
 Wednesday, 14th. A letter from F. W. P. at dinner, 
 September 2. Says father told him I had been ex- 
 changed as it was arranged. Tells me of Arthur's cap- 
 ture. Arthur and I were eating a good dinner together 
 when it was received. The time passes much more 
 quickly than it did. Beautiful moonlight nights now, 
 too bad to be shut up within prison bars. I hope the 
 next moon I shall see on salt wafer. I am tired of see- 
 ing it reflected on this river and canal. My leg pains 
 me a great deal to-day and to-night. We play poker 
 six. 
 
 Thursday, 15th. It was just a month ago yesterday 
 that I began to mend and get well. Oh, how grateful 
 I am for the mercies of this past month ! I have suffered 
 two awful disappointments, but when I think how much 
 worse it might have been, I can only be thankful and 
 patient. A year ago I was at Pittsfield, just going to 
 Saratoga. What a pleasant time I had. That is past 
 for this year. I am still very anxious about my horses 
 wish I knew they were safe at home. They are 
 safe anywhere so long as Tieman is with them. At the 
 Learneds' one year ago. 
 
 Friday, 16th. I wish I could get home this month on 
 many accounts. The next boat is due a week from to- 
 day. Make a little charm of peach-stone. Play poker 
 in evening till ten. Fisher keeps us splitting with
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 139 
 
 laughter all the time. Not very well to-day. Beautiful 
 night, full moon, too pleasant to be in this place. I 
 cannot get my bowels regular. It is now nearly two 
 months since they have been so. 
 
 Saturday, 17th. Beautiful day. Oh, it is too bad to 
 lose all this lovely weather. This week has passed very 
 quickly. Arthur's being here accounts for it. We play 
 poker every evening. Another hitch in the exchange 
 question between Hood and Sherman. It is very dis- 
 heartening for the poor men. 
 
 Sunday, 18th. Chilly day. Read service all the morn- 
 ing. Had no book to read. Quite unwell to-day, very 
 weak. 
 
 Monday, Wth. Pleasant day. Just two months since 
 I left "Washington. It seems like two years. I hope 
 the end of this month will find me at home, or at least, 
 at liberty. Colonel Hooper came down to see me last 
 week. He is very well. I am to go and see his mother 
 when I get home. One year ago I was at Albany, on 
 my way to Saratoga with Mr. Learned. 
 
 Tuesday, 20th. Beautiful day. The Sergeant in one 
 of his whims has not been out to buy anything for us 
 for several days, so that we have been short. We are 
 dependent entirely on the whim of this low, ugly-dispo- 
 sitioned brute. This steward can't manage him as well 
 as Getting used to. Wrote F. W. P. to send by boat. 
 
 LIBBT PRISON HOSPITAL, 
 RICHMOND, September 20, 1864. 
 
 It was a happy surprise to me to get your letter of 
 the 2d, a day or two since. It came through by the last 
 ioat. It is the only letter I have had, excepting one
 
 140 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 from home (August 3d), since I was captured. You 
 did n't think when you wrote, telling me of Arthur's cap- 
 ture, that we should be sitting vis-a-vis partaking the 
 frugal meal together, when it reached me. Such was 
 the case. After I had been here in hospital five or six 
 days, I received a scrap of paper on which was written a 
 hasty salutation from Arthur. Imagine my surprise, 
 not having heard of his misfortune. As I was expect- 
 ing to go by the boat which went the next day, I asked 
 to have him allowed to come down and see me. He 
 came the next morning, just as I was going. I left with 
 him all the money, etc., that I had, and bade him good-by. 
 After going to the boat in ambulance, and getting nicely 
 on board, an order came from Colonel Ould that I must 
 go back to prison. I could not go until General Walker 
 was sent up, etc. There was nothing to be said. I 
 could not help thinking that it would at least have been 
 considerate in Ould to have spared me the disappoint- 
 ment of going down on board the boat, to return again 
 to prison, when he had no intention of letting me go. 
 When I came to Richmond from Danville and reported 
 to him, he said I was " to be sent North by first flag 
 of truce boat," and so endorsed the order sending 
 me here. Nothing was said about its depending upon 
 Walker's coming up, and I believe that was an after- 
 thought. It was a sad disappointment to come back 
 within these prison walls and bars after getting so far 
 on my road to liberty. I looked forward then to the 
 next boat, but was doomed to disappointment again. 
 
 I hope the next one, which will be here the last of 
 this week, will bring Walker and take me away. In- 
 deed I hope more than I expect. If I was well, I should
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 141 
 
 not be so impatient, and am not so anxious now as when 
 I was so very ill. The Surgeon at Danville recom- 
 mended that I be exchanged, as I was in a criti- 
 cal condition, and " if I recovered would not be fit for 
 duty for many months." I am safely through, though, 
 thank God. The thought of dying there in that hos- 
 pital, with no one to speak to, not a single officer of our 
 army in the place, no one to whom I could trust either 
 effects or messages, was pretty hard to bear. I shall 
 have much to tell you when we meet, which time, I 
 pray, is not far distant It is a great comfort to me, 
 having Arthur here. He is shamming sick in order to 
 stay here in hospital, where he is of course much more 
 comfortable than "in quarters." He is very well in- 
 deed, and in excellent spirits. I am very anxious to 
 hear from home of many persons, especially Macy. I 
 heard that he was seriously injured internally by his 
 horse falling on him, and Patten has lost a leg ! I am 
 very sorry for him ; hope it is not above the knee. Poor 
 Charlie Peirson, his death was very sad. I fear there 
 must be others that I have not heard of yet. 
 
 I write this to send by some officer who goes by the 
 next boat. I don't know whether letters sent through 
 the regular channels reach you. They certainly do not 
 reach us. This is contraband, but can easily be smug- 
 gled inside a man's coat-lining. I fear you will have 
 trouble in deciphering it. I shall write mother by this 
 boat, but you might let them know that you hear from 
 me in case theirs should miscarry. I am doing com- 
 paratively well, remember, and am ready to endure it 
 *s long as may be necessary. My experience, I suppose,
 
 142 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 wouldn't have been considered complete without this 
 phase. 
 
 Remember me to any who have not forgotten me. 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 FRANK B. 
 
 September 20th. The papers say that the boat is up 
 and General Walker on board, so I may get off this 
 time. If not, I shall give up. 
 
 Wednesday, 2lst. The first thing I heard this morning 
 was, " We shall lose the General." I opened my eyes 
 and Arthur said, " Have you got your valise packed ? 
 The papers say that the boat is up and General Walker 
 on board." So I hope to go by this boat. This may " go 
 back " on me again, but it would be very mean. I shall 
 hope to go. The boat goes Friday. Played poker, 
 evening. I am about $40 ahead ; shall leave it with 
 Arthur and Brady. 
 
 Thursday, 22d. Nothing about the boat to-day. I 
 shall get letter ready to send in case I do not go. After- 
 noon, told that the boat would go to-morrow. Ross told 
 me I was going ; shall not feel certain till I am under 
 the flag. Play poker and settle accounts ; I am about 
 $40 ahead ; give it to Brady, who was behind. 
 
 Friday, 23d. The boat does not go this morning, some 
 delay, to-morrow now. To-night the roll is brought in 
 for us to sign. My name leads it again. Fisher the 
 flanker is down to go. Brady goes too. Arthur alone 
 of the quartette is left. The last night in Libby ! I 
 was taken with a bad diarrhoea, up all night, very weak. 
 
 Saturday, 24th. Off again. I am so ill I can hardly 
 stand. Bade Arthur good-by left him my chain,
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 143 
 
 etc., again. On the Allison. I expected every moment 
 a summons to go on shore again. Off at last, twenty 
 minutes before 10 A. we., down the James. Ashore at 
 Varina. A grasp of a friendly hand, Major Mulford. 
 A short ride, and there floats the old flag. May I never 
 lose sight of it again. I am too ill to eat. Comfort- 
 able bed and state room lie at landing all night. 
 
 WINCHESTER, September 24, 1864. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, It is with the greatest relief and 
 pleasure that I think how soon you are likely to have 
 your son, the General, with you again, bringing home 
 fresh laurels, with which he might well be content, if it 
 were for ambitious ends that he entered the service of 
 the country. But we know that he will be satisfied with 
 nothing short of doing his utmost for the nation ; and 
 that he has surely done ; at least, I cannot conceive that 
 he should be fit for service for many months to come. 
 
 Few outside of his immediate family can rejoice more 
 at his safe return than I do, little as I can hope to see 
 of him. I feel that this is a better world while my 
 former colonel is in it. 
 
 I beg that you will express to Mrs. Bartlett the sym- 
 pathy which Mrs. Winsor and I feel for you in your 
 great happiness ; though its expression is somewhat 
 tardy, its existence is real. 
 
 Very truly and respectfully yours, 
 
 FREDERICK WINSOR. 
 
 Sunday, 25tk. Major Mulford tells me mother is at 
 Baltimore. Father has been down to Fortress Monroe. 
 I was exchanged early in August, and to think how near 
 I came to never being exchanged ! Arrive at Fortress
 
 144 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 Monroe half past five ; tug comes out. Is General Bart- 
 lett on board ? Yes, from fifty voices, and I am carried 
 over the side and meet Charles Manning 1 on board 
 Adelaide; hear all the news from Charlie. Good bed, 
 etc. ; talk late. 
 
 Monday, 26th. Eeach Baltimore early, drive to 129. 
 
 Mother there Better this morning, ate good 
 
 breakfast, can't stand it. Dr. Baxley comes. Must go 
 on very low diet. " With care can get well in six 
 months! " Pleasant prospect, still I am in God's coun- 
 try once more, and that is everything. Mother tells me 
 all about Agnes ; three letters from her, one from Win- 
 throp. Dear Agnes. 
 
 Tuesday, 27th. Do not go down stairs. I am weaker 
 than I supposed. Dr. B. is very serious. I hope to dis- 
 appoint him and be well in half the time that he says. 
 We leave for New York to-morrow. Agnes is there. 
 I had hoped to be well enough to go about there, but 
 must now keep the house. 
 
 Wednesday, 28th. Long, weary, trying ride to New 
 York. I thought I should have to give it up at Phil- 
 adelphia, but we are well through. Uncle Ed. and Aunt 
 Carry here. Agnes came in the evening. I saw her in 
 the little dining-room. It almost repays one for the 
 misery and pain, this meeting. Can it be possible that 
 I am here again, .... It is too good to be true. 
 Never let me forget God's mercy to me undeserving. 
 
 Thursday, 29th. Agnes came again this morning. I 
 
 have to keep my bed, very weak. Dr. Van Buren alters 
 
 my diet and medicine. Agnes sat by my bedside. Too 
 
 much to think of to talk much. Many callers and cards. 
 
 1 His brother-in-law.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 145 
 
 I see no one but the family. Agnes here in the evening, 
 short time. 
 
 Friday, 30th. Agnes came again this morning. She 
 had a pleasant visit to Winthrop. I wish I had been 
 there. She passed the evening with me. These are 
 very happy days, it makes up for everything. 
 
 Saturday, October 1st. Agnes goes to-day. I am not 
 well enough to go my way; shall wait till Monday. 
 She came this morning, bade good-by, 't is not so 
 hard as the last time. 
 
 Sunday, 2d. Long day. "Went down stairs to Aunt 
 Carry's in evening. Dr. Van Buren says I must not do 
 anything for six months at least. Wrote short note to 
 Agnes. 
 
 Monday, 3d. Cannot go to-day. To-morrow. Tel- 
 egraph to father. Miss Adams goes on with us. Down 
 etairs in evening. 
 
 Tuesday, 4th. Leave this afternoon for Boston, via 
 Stonington. Horrid route. I am not in the humor for 
 travelling at best. 
 
 Wednesday, 5th. Cars at seven, delay at Providence, 
 slow train, reach Boston at one. Carriage, Anna at 
 depot. Drive directly out. All glad to see me of course. 
 Shown to my room should not know it, beautifully 
 furnished and adorned. Bookcase and desk from Agnes. 
 
 Thursday, 6th. Saw Ned and Billy last night. My 
 room looks very well. My swords hung in trophy. A 
 set of Prescott complete, from Uncle Ed. and Aunt 
 Carry. Paper knife from Miss Adams. This desk is 
 just what I wanted. 
 
 Friday, 7th. This being at home again is delicious ; 
 comfort and rest. May I never be separated from it 
 10
 
 146 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 again by such an impassable barrier as that line of hos- 
 tile bayonets ! 
 
 Saturday, 8th. Short note from Agnes in one o* 
 Anna's. Cattle-fair week there. I remember two years 
 ago very well. 
 
 Sunday, $th. Beautiful day. Family go up to church. 
 Anna stays at home with me. Wrote Agnes in morn- 
 ing. Anna told me about their visit here. 
 
 Monday, 10th. Sent long letter to Agnes. Down 
 stairs in evening. Anna reading " Pendennis." 
 
 Tuesday, llth. Letter from Agnes. "Wrote E.G. 
 Adams, C. J. Mills, Brady, Mrs. Bramhall. Anna read 
 Prescott's review of Lockhart's " Life of Scott." 
 Arthur Curtis is released. Mulford kept his word. Dr. 
 White came down. Bought "Napier's Peninsulai 
 War." 
 
 October 13, 1864. 
 
 I don't need to tell you that I am, and have been, im 
 patient to see you, but I have not seen any one, and am 
 not allowed to write, my eyes sharing with the rest of 
 my system a prostration which is something quite new 
 to me. My surgeons put on very grave faces, and tell 
 me I must have perfect rest and quiet, with careful 
 treatment, diet, etc., for six months, and predict very 
 unpleasant things otherwise. I propose to disappoint 
 them in regard to time W. F. B. 
 
 Wednesday, 12th. Went to Boston. Bought carpet, 
 table and cloth, brackets, etc. A beautiful bust of Gari- 
 baldi by Pietro Stefani. It is the best likeness that I 
 ever saw. Horse-car smashed carryall. Saw many 
 that I knew. Boston looks very gay.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 147 
 
 Thursday, I3th. Rain-storm. Wrote letters. Ar- 
 thur is out. Home to-night. Mulford kept his word. 
 Notes from Ben and F. W. P. 
 
 Friday, 14:th. Rainy. Letter from Agnes at Copake. 
 Table and brackets came to-day. 
 
 Saturday, 15th. Rainy. Do not go to town, 
 
 Sunday, IQth. Sweet, long letter from my darling. 
 Wrote this afternoon. 
 
 Monday, 17 th. Went to town, saw Ben and F. W. P., 
 Murray, many people. Saw Dr. Bigelow. Sent letter 
 to Agnes. 
 
 . Friday, 21st. Put my leg on this morning, not very 
 comfortable yet. Three years ago to-day, Ball's Bluff. 
 Wrote Dr. J. Monroe, 560 Hudson St., New York, about 
 his leg. 
 
 Saturday, 22d. Had to go to bed this p. M. Bad 
 headache, etc., etc. Letter from Agnes, do not read it 
 to-night. Sent letter to Agnes. 
 
 Sunday, 23d. Keep my bed all day read Agnes' 
 letter. It is rather discouraging, this slipping up so 
 often. I don't make any improvement. 
 
 Monday, 24th. Dr. Bigelow is not at home. Sat up 
 to-day. Cannot read or be read to, it makes my head 
 ache. 
 
 Tuesday, 25th. Sit up. Not much better. 
 
 Wednesday, 2Qth. Little better; bad headache if I 
 hear reading or use my eyes. 
 
 Thursday, 27th. Dr. Crane came to see me. 
 
 Friday, 28th. Rain-storm. Sent letter to Agnes. 
 Frank Palfrey comes down. Very pleasant evening. 
 I smoked a " Manilla." Told him of my engagement, 
 tc. Letter from leg man, New York.
 
 148 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 For the remainder of the year 1864, there was 
 little that was noteworthy in his life. He re- 
 mained at his home at Winthrop for the most 
 part, but he made frequent excursions to Boston, 
 and one visit of several days to New York, where 
 he met his fiancee, and passed most of his time 
 with her. He rode occasionally, drove often, re- 
 ceived and made many visits, and passed much 
 time in reading and letter-writing. His health 
 improved upon the whole, but slowly. On the 
 12th of November he wrote : " I am very much 
 encouraged by my condition the last few days, 
 very little pain, no diarrhoea." The condition of 
 his stump also improved with his general condi- 
 tion, and he was able to wear his old wooden leg, 
 and also a new one which he procured at this 
 time, with more comfort than before. On Thanks- 
 giving Day, November 24, he wrote : " How 
 much I have to give thanks for on this day. 
 That I am here, as well as I am. When I think 
 of what easily might have been ! " and on the 
 last day of the year : 
 
 " So ends 1864, an eventful year for me in more ways 
 than one. May the end of 1865 find me alive and well, 
 * better man, and more deserving of God's mercy and 
 goodness and the love of my darling Agnes." 
 
 On the 16th of January, 1865, his engagement 
 to Miss Mary Agnes Pomeroy, of Pittsfield, Mas- 
 sachusetts, was formally announced at a great fes-
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 149 
 
 tival at The Homestead, the residence of her father, 
 Mr. Robert Pomeroy, upon the occasion of his 
 silver wedding. He passed the winter and spring 
 of 1865 at his home and at Pittsfield. He was 
 much out of health, suffering constantly from his 
 prison dysen fcery and from weakness. He applied 
 loi duty on the 13th of April, but nothing came 
 of ihe application for some time. In the follow- 
 ing May, he recorded in his journal that he was 
 " much better than since last July " ; and on the 
 23d of that month he made another and formal 
 application to the War Department, accompany- 
 ing his letter with a surgeon's certificate that he 
 was able to return to duty. 
 
 On the 1st of June he commanded the mili- 
 tary escort of the great procession which that day 
 filled the streets of Boston, upon the occasion of 
 the ceremonies commemorative of the late Presi- 
 dent Lincoln ; and those who saw him then are not 
 likely to forget the striking appearance he pre- 
 sented as he rode, in full uniform, at the head of 
 his column of many thousand men of the three 
 .irms. 
 
 On the 9th of June he received his orders from 
 the War Department to report without delay to 
 the General commanding the Ninth Corps, for 
 duty. He arrived in Washington on the 13th, and 
 reported himself at the War Department the same 
 day. On the 19th of June he took command of 
 &e First Division of the Ninth Corps, at Tenally- 
 town, near Washington.
 
 150 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 HEADQUARTERS FIRST DIVISION, NINTH CORPS, 
 NEAR WASHINGTON, June 26, 1865. 
 
 Why should n't I send you a few lines this rainy af- 
 ternoon, to tell you where I am and what doing ? I was 
 very sorry not to see you before I came away, but you 
 had gone out of town. I got my orders Friday after- 
 noon, and left two P. M. Saturday, rather a short time 
 in which to break up a seven months' camp. I was not 
 able to see any one, of course ; but good-by now was a 
 much less serious matter, and more easily omitted, than 
 it was seven months ago. I hope you and your wife are 
 out of town by this time, enjoying fresh air and exer- 
 cise. 
 
 I am rather pleasantly situated. I am commanding 
 the First Division of the Corps. My headquarters are 
 in a lovely oak grove, a few (2) miles out from George- 
 town, on the Tenallytown Road, the old Rockville Pike 
 which we knew of old. I am just a little off the road, 
 in tents. I prefer sleeping in a tent, although there is 
 a very good house near by at my service. 
 
 The temperature out here under these trees is a very 
 different thing from the fiendish heat of that wretched 
 town that consists of the President's house and the Capi- 
 tol. I was there a week before I came out here, and it 
 nearly killed me. 
 
 My Division lies up the road towards Tenallytown 
 three brigades, well situated for water, slope, and air. 
 One brigade is commanded by a brigadier, the other two 
 by colonels. I found the command in rather a slack 
 state of discipline. No attention paid to guard-duty or 
 drill. It is natural that men should feel, now that the 
 tfar for which they enlisted is over, that there is no fur-
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 151 
 
 ther need of discipline, and that the strict performance 
 of guard-duty any longer is needless. (I only name 
 guard-duty as one of the points by which you judge of a 
 regiment's " breeding " and efficiency.) In this they are 
 rather encouraged by a certain class of officers, you 
 well know what I mean if I say the Le Barnes school, 
 and this feeling of expectancy and uncertainty about 
 getting mustered out is prejudicial to discipline. 
 
 I had all the regimental and brigade commanders here 
 the other night, and gave them a lecture of an hour and 
 a half. You would have smiled to see me laying down 
 the law, surrounded by about twenty of these old birds. 
 I fancy it woke them up, for I have been pleased to see 
 a marked change for the better already. 
 
 It seems funny to be here on this old road, in com- 
 mand of a Division, where I marched up under your 
 baton not many months ago on foot. I intend to ride 
 up to Poolesville as soon as the weather is a little cooler, 
 if we remain here, and going over to Ball's Bluff and 
 Leesburg. I wish you would come out and go too. 
 
 Charlie Whittier and Macy were over to see me the 
 other day. Whit, is the same fair boy as ever. I sup- 
 pose the Army of the Potomac will be dissolved soon ; 
 an order will soon be out mustering out " veterans," 
 which will reduce it very much. 
 
 Miss Jennie Turnbull proposes to convert me from 
 my dislike to Washington, so that I shall never want to 
 go away from here after a little while. I should like to 
 " give odds " on it. 
 
 Dear Frank, this is n't a very satisfactory letter. 
 There are many things that I have to talk with you 
 about.
 
 152 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 Remember me to all yours. Let me have a line from 
 you when you have a spare half hour, and believe me, 
 Always yours, FRANK. 
 
 On the 2d of July, he speaks of seeing General 
 Parke, the Corps commander, and of his telling 
 him that all the troops in the Department were to 
 be mustered out, and he adds " I do not care how 
 soon I go. I find I am not able to stand it." The 
 hot weather was especially trying to him. He 
 left his command on the 14th July, when his 
 Division was broken up, and that was the last of 
 his actual service, though, through the kindness 
 of Mr. Stanton, the Secretary of War, he was not 
 mustered out of the military service till a much 
 later date. The following correspondence in re- 
 lation to a leave of absence which he desired, 
 though a little later in date tban the letter which 
 immediately follows it, may conveniently be in- 
 serted here. 
 
 (Confidential.) 
 
 16 BROAD STREET, BOSTON, August 9, 1865. 
 HON. E. M. STANTON : 
 
 Dear Sir, You were kind enough to say to me a 
 few weeks ago, when I called to pay my respects to you 
 before leaving Washington, that you would be glad to do 
 anything for me at any time. I take you at your word, 
 and ask you frankly for advice on a subject which has 
 been suggested by some of my friends, in the army and
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 153 
 
 They are desirous that I should visit Europe before I 
 leave the army, that I should be there while an officer 
 of the U. S. Volunteers, and wish me to apply for a 
 six months' leave of absence. You are aware that I lost 
 my leg in the first year of the war, and have been in the 
 service (active) ever since, being badly wounded again 
 at the assault on Port Hudson in the arm and other 
 foot (where my conduct caused you to offer me a bri- 
 gadier-general's commission), and again in the Wilder- 
 ness. My health was very much impaired by my im- 
 prisonment last summer, and I have not been well since, 
 although on duty in command of the First Division, 
 Ninth Corps, until within a few weeks, after I was fit for 
 any duty. I have not sought for assignment to any duty 
 since the muster-out of the troops, for I knew there 
 were a hundred applicants for every one place, and I 
 did not care to swell the number. I am at home, await- 
 ing orders. I thought I would take you at your word, 
 sir, and instead of sending a formal application for this 
 leave, backed by such influence as I might command, 
 I would simply ask you what favor such a request 
 would meet with from you. 
 
 Colonel Conolly, Adjutant-general (late) of forces in 
 Canada, is desirous that I should visit England while I 
 am still in the army. 
 
 Will you be kind enough to tell me your views on the 
 subject, and whether you will grant such a request? 
 
 I should expect to be mustered out at the expiration 
 of the leave unless my services were required, which is 
 not probable. 
 
 Even if the leave were to be on half or without pay, 
 from the time when I should otherwise be mustered out,
 
 154 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 it would meet the wishes of my friends, as far as still 
 being in the service is concerned. Hoping for an an- 
 swer as frank as my statement to you is, I remain, very 
 respectfully and sincerely, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 W. F. BARTLETT, Brigadier-general. 
 
 WAR DEPARTMENT, 
 
 WASHINGTON CITY, August 12, 1865. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Your note of the 9th inst. reached 
 me this morning, and the Adjutant-general has been 
 directed to give you six months' leave of absence with 
 the privilege to go beyond the limits of the United 
 States. I would be glad to continue the pay, but it 
 would lead to so many applications of a similar nature 
 as to become necessary perhaps to revoke all. The 
 question of pay therefore can remain suspended, but it 
 is probable that the service will require the absence to 
 be without pay. Yours truly, 
 
 EDWIN M. STANTON. 
 BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL BARTLETT, 
 16 Broad Street, Boston. 
 
 (Draft of answer.) 
 
 August 19, 1865. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I cannot express to you my apprecia- 
 tion of and thanks for your very kind note of the 12th, 
 in which you so graciously grant my request for leave 
 of absence. I cannot forget your kindness in this mat- 
 ter, and shall try not to forfeit your favorable considera- 
 tion. 
 
 You addressed me as Brevet Major-general, and I 
 tave been informed that such a brevet had been rec-
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 155 
 
 ommended, and that Mr. S. had written to you con 
 cerning its confirmation, but I have not received any 
 official notice of it, and the leave is made out for Brig- 
 adier-general. In the matter of pay, you have said 
 all that I could expect, and I am content to leave the 
 question suspended, and await the decision that circum- 
 stances may dictate, judging that it is not doubtful up 
 to the time when I should otherwise have been mustered 
 out. 
 
 I have just received the leave from the Adjutant- 
 general's office. Yours, etc. 
 
 HEADQUARTERS, FIRST DIVISION, NINTH CORPS. 
 
 July 8, 1865. 
 
 My last was written about the 24th ult., since which 
 time I have changed my views somewhat about re- 
 maining in the service. I find that it is a very different 
 thing from what it used to be in war times. There 
 is not half the incentive to labor on your command 
 that there once was, and especially now, when these 
 troops are restless and dissatisfied about getting mus- 
 tered out, it is almost impossible to get men or offi- 
 cers to do their duty properly. As I told you, I found 
 the Division in a poor state of discipline. I have suc- 
 ceeded in bringing it up somewhat, but it has only been 
 by my constant personal supervision. 
 
 I have roughed more officers, and reduced more non- 
 coms, to the ranks, these last two or three weeks, than in 
 any other year of service. There is a very visible and 
 gratifying change, still there is not that charm about the 
 life that used to fascinate. You feel that the object, 
 the aim, of this discipline is gone. You cannot feel that
 
 156 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 next week, in the presence of the enemy, we shall reap 
 the benefit of this drill and training. 
 
 I am very glad that I came out here and satisfied 
 myself, otherwise I might have always regretted that I 
 had left the service, and been restless and discontented. 
 
 There are many pleasant things about it still 
 
 There is always more or less of a feeling of pride and 
 pleasure in having a number of men under your control. 
 But I have not been quite so well here as I was at 
 home, and I really suppose it would be better for me to 
 be further north this summer. For all that, Frank, it 
 will be a very sad day for me, the one that I cease to be 
 
 a soldier I shall be in Boston the 20th. I am 
 
 looking forward to the 21st with dread. I have been 
 informed that a few words would be expected from me, 
 among others, and, Frank, I'll swear I can't get up 
 before such a crowd as that, and speak. What can I 
 say? I am not joking. I feel very unpleasantly about 
 it I was talking with Charley Whittier yester- 
 day; he is afraid he will be called on, and we were 
 groaning in sympathy. 
 
 By the way, Charley has one of the best appointments 
 in the service, better than he could have hoped for as a 
 volunteer officer, when so very few will be retained, 
 Adjutant-general of one of the departments of the Pa- 
 cific, either Oregon or California. It is a very great 
 compliment to him, and every one here is glad ; he is 
 a great favorite throughout the arnry. He will be in 
 Boston till the first of August. Macy has got a brigade 
 in the Provisional Army Potomac. He intends to stay, 
 I believe. I don't suppose he can after the Twentieth is 
 mustered out, but that is retained for the present. By
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 157 
 
 the way, I have something to tell you which will please 
 and interest you to know. I was recommended some 
 time since for a " Brevet Major-general " for " gallant 
 and meritorious conduct" at the Mine. I had never 
 heard of it before, and indeed had never thought of such 
 a thing, and I was not a little surprised, as you will be, 
 to hear it. Colonel Marshall told me that he saw the 
 report. Very few of the recommendations for brevets 
 have been acted upon in this Corps yet, and I suppose 
 mine is filed with the rest. So I don't expect to get it 
 before I leave the service. But it is rather gratifying 
 to know that the recommendation has been made, even 
 if there is nothing more. I never ask any questions, 
 and 1 suppose that is why I did n't know of this before. 
 They seem to expect if a man wants a brevet, he will 
 apply or ask for it, which to me (I may have a false 
 idea about such things) seems a contradiction in terms. 
 An officer, speaking in a complimentary way of my for- 
 tunes the other night, asked me why I did n't " apply for 
 a brevet." To cut him down, for he was one of them, 
 I rather lied when I said, " I did n't know that was the 
 way you got them." T have learnt that, since I have 
 been out here. Why, Frank, we used to think that our 
 officers who had been brevetted in the Mexican "War 
 were special heroes, and had done some extraordinary 
 feat of courage and devotion, but this sort of thing makes 
 me rather skeptical about the value of a brevet in the 
 
 armies of the Republic 
 
 Yours ever, FRANK. 
 
 July 21, 1865, was " Commemoration Day " at 
 Cambridge, when Harvard College welcomed her
 
 158 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 sons who had served in the war. At the dinner 
 which closed the celebration, the President, after 
 many speeches had been made, introduced Gen- 
 eral Bartlett, by alluding to an ancient picture of 
 a warrior maimed and deprived of an eye, on 
 which was the inscription, " The heart is left," 1 
 and said that General Bartlett's heart was left, 
 and was always in the right place for the service 
 of his country. General Bartlett rose to reply 
 with evident diffidence, and said that he did not 
 wish to detain the audience, and that if he had all 
 the eloquence in the world, he could not express 
 his feelings. Then he seemed to hesitate, and 
 Colonel Henry Lee, the Chief Marshal of the day, 
 rose and said : " As the Speaker of the House of 
 Burgesses of Virginia said to Washington, Sit 
 down, sir, your modesty is equal to your valor, 
 and that surpasses the power of any language I 
 possess." Enthusiastic applause followed, and 
 the soldier said no more. 
 
 1 Memorandum from Colonel Henry Lee : 
 " Joaias, C'te de Ramtezan, 30 Juin, Ifi45. Mare'chal de France, 
 1650. 
 
 " n dlspersa ses membres et sa gloire. 
 Tout abattu qu ? il fut il demeura vainqueur. 
 Son sang fut on cent lieux le prix de la victoire, 
 Et Mars ne lui laissa rien d'entier que le cceur. 
 
 " This is the legend beneath the portrait of a handsome yonng 
 cavalier upon a caracoling horse, one eye covered with a handker- 
 chief, a hook for his sword-hand, a wooden leg in one stirrup. 
 The bearing and condition of this warrior recalled Bartlett, and 
 [ gave Mr. Loring the legend in French and English."
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 159 
 
 General Bartlett was married at Pittsfield, on 
 the 14th of October, 1865, to Miss Mary Agnes 
 Pomeroy, a most charming and admirable woman, 
 to whom he was devotedly attached, as she was to 
 him. He sailed for England with his wife on the 
 18th of the same month, and they returned to 
 America in June of the following year. Their 
 trip was successful and delightful, and was of 
 great service to the crippled and exhausted sol- 
 dier. His letters and journals tell with sufficient 
 fulness the story of their wanderings. 
 
 4 WESTBOURNE SQUARE, HYDE PARK, WEST. 
 LONDON, November 8, 1865. 
 
 There you have it in full, our present location. The 
 Pomeroys have taken a house, very nice one, comfort- 
 ably furnished and served, in Oxford Terrace, a short 
 ride from here; but Agnes' cousin insisted on having 
 us two with him. He lives in very good style in this, 
 one of the best localities. We are of course much more 
 comfortable here than we should be at hotel or lodgings, 
 and are hardly able to realize that we are in a foreign 
 land, for thus far we have been, both here and at Rock 
 Park (Liverpool), so much at home. We stayed nearly 
 a week at Rock Park, getting our land legs on again. 
 
 We had a very rough passage. I was quite sick the 
 first day or two, much to my disgust and surprise. But 
 Gus. Perkins, who was with us, consoled me by telling 
 ne of his brother-in-law, who made fifteen passages 
 without being in the least sick, and the sixteenth suffered 
 dreadfully the whole voyage. Which, though it quieted
 
 160 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 my feelings, did not affect my stomach. The rest of the 
 party were sick for the first few days. We had not one 
 smooth day. It is perfectly impossible for me to write 
 anything satisfactory just now, as several people are 
 talking to me. I have been about London a little, do- 
 ing a little general sight-seeing, trying to get the " lay 
 of the land," etc. 
 
 DEAR COLONEL PALFREY, I can't resist just adding 
 my mite to Frank's letter. I shall report to you all the 
 honor done to one we both love so well. He is a won- 
 der to everybody, walking so well, arid so young a gen- 
 eral. The ship-board people thought the story of his 
 having but one leg a Canterbury, and I did not wonder, 
 for he managed remarkably. I am very proud of him. 
 Do you think it unpardonable ? I am sure not. We 
 are enjoying every moment. I think it would be hard 
 to find two happier people than Frank and myself any- 
 where in Christendom. I am hoping he will see some 
 of the troops next week. General Weatherall of the 
 Horse-guards will be back then, and he is a great friend 
 of ours. We are going down to my cousin's hunting- 
 box on Friday. There is to be a " Meet " on Saturday. 
 Frank will ride, though he will not follow the hounds. 
 I expect we shall enjoy the novelty of the sight very 
 much. But I must not steal Frank's thunder, and I 
 shall just say good-by now, only adding much love for 
 your dear wife and my cordial remembrances to all your 
 family. I don't know what Frank will say to this in- 
 trusion, but I could not help it. 
 
 Very truly yours, AGNES BARTLETT.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 161 
 
 Friday, 10th. I was interrupted, and I find that 
 Agnes has been putting in a word, which you won't 
 mind. I have only a few minutes to write to-day, for 
 we are off in an hour or two to the country, where 
 George has a hunting-box. Agnes and Mrs. G. will 
 drive down in the coupe, and I shall go by rail later. I 
 have a note from George this morning, who went down 
 yesterday, saying he had a good day. The " Meet " to- 
 morrow is about two miles from the " Box." I shall 
 ride one of his thorough-breds, but 1 do not expect to 
 follow the hounds, as it would be very foolish, not hav- 
 ing my own saddle, etc. 
 
 Lord Maiden is " master of the hounds " (it is a sub- 
 scription pack). I expect to enjoy meeting some of 
 these birds as much as seeing the hounds. I have n't 
 time to tell you about George, what a " swell " he is on 
 wines and cigars, and that sort of thing. I will write 
 you next week if it is a possible thing. 
 
 I have not done anything in the way of troops yet, as 
 General Weatherall has gone into the country for a 
 week's shooting. Next week he will be here. I saw a 
 very handsome troop of horse-guards in the street, fine- 
 looking fellows, all mounted on black horses. But if I 
 were queen of England, I'll swear that I would have 
 better soldiers on guard in front of my quarters than 
 were in front of Buckingham Palace the day we drove 
 by there. They were not soldierly sentinels. They 
 neither marched well, nor came about well, nor carried 
 their pieces well, of which more anon. 
 
 I must say good-by, old fellow. I hope to hear a word 
 from you pretty soon. I am very well and strong. Take 
 ipy beer for lunch like a man. Love to all yours ; ex- 
 11
 
 162 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 cuse this shabby letter. I know you will say it 's shabby, 
 for you never lie, even out of politeness. 
 
 And believe me, with much love, ever yours, 
 
 FRANK BARTLETT. 
 
 LONDON, November 18, 1865. 
 
 Only time for a word this ship. Last Saturday, went 
 down to George's hunting-box, and if you will believe 
 it, rode one of his thorough -breds in tops and cords on 
 an English hunting-saddle after the hounds, and was in 
 at the death. It was great sport. I did not do anything 
 foolish in the way of big jumps, of course, but I never 
 wanted two legs so much in my life. I would have 
 shown the field some clean heels, I fancy, for my chest- 
 nut was a " goer," stands to win a steeple-chase, etc. I 
 rode upwards of twenty miles, and then, as the second 
 fox had been lost, and my leg began to chafe, I turned 
 home. It was a beautiful sight, Frank, what I have 
 always wanted to see, but never supposed that I should 
 take part in it. Lord Maiden is master of the hounds, 
 and was much interested in my riding. I believe I am 
 to have the " brush." I wish you could see the horse 
 that my groom rode. He is a wicked one ; but if you 
 should "put him at" a barn he would rise to it (and if it 
 was n't too absurd, I was going to say, could take it). 
 He is called " Greek Fire," and is one of the " strong- 
 est " goers in England. He had a hard hunt the day 
 before, and so was very quiet that day. Are n't you 
 glad I was able to see so much of a hunt ? I got along 
 in an English saddle much better than I expected. But 
 you know in riding here you put your foot way into the 
 iron up to your instep, so that was just the thing for my
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 163 
 
 Wooden foot. I shall have to leave a good deal of this 
 to tell you. 
 
 Yesterday we came in from Walton on Thames, Stur- 
 gis's place, where we had been to dine and pass the 
 night, splendid house, everything very swell and com- 
 fortable. I enjoy the life here very much, especially 
 the country life. I like their style in this thing. I wish 
 I had time to write you a long letter, but have patience. 
 I go to Aldershott next week, and Woolwich, with 
 Colonel Conolly. He has written to General Sir James 
 Scarlett, commanding, that he is coming to bring me, 
 and so, if he is going to have anything worth seeing, to 
 put it off till the day we are there. He served twenty 
 years with Sir James, on his staff and otherwise, and I 
 could n't have a better man to go there with. I am go- 
 ing to see guard-mounting in St. James's Park, too, next 
 week, with him, and will tell you of that. It is not the 
 time of year to see troops here, as they have no field- 
 days and reviews now ; but nous verrons. 
 
 We dine with Weatherall next week. He is one of 
 the swells here in the army line. I saw him at the 
 Horse-guards yesterday. Also dine at the Army and 
 Navy Club one day with Conolly. 
 
 Yours, FRANK. 
 
 November 29. 
 
 I doubt my getting off a long letter to you this time. 
 I have been kept in the house these last three days, and 
 indeed in my room, by a very severe boil (more like a 
 carbuncle, the Doctor says), just on the small of my back, 
 BO that I could neither wear leg nor even pants. I shall 
 ijet out to-morrow, I think. Since I sent you my last
 
 164 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 scrap of a note, I have done nothing very important. 
 On the 21st we went down to St. James's Palace with 
 Conolly, and saw guard-mounting. One company of the 
 Grenadiers relieved a company of the Coldstreams. 
 Their guard-mounting is different from ours, you know. 
 The inspection is all done at the barracks before they 
 march out. The band forms in a circle at one side of 
 the quadrangle, and plays while the two guards stand 
 facing each other, about forty paces apart. The first 
 relief being sent out to post, when the relief gets 
 round the old guard marches off, the new guard sa- 
 luting, and every officer within sight of the colors, not 
 on duty nor even in uniform, lifting the beaver and 
 standing uncovered as reverently while England's color 
 goes by, as if it were England's queen, and I think it is 
 splendid, and as it should be in every country. I met 
 one or two pleasant men there, one Seymour, Captain 
 on Staff, and one Bramston, Colonel. 
 
 The next day but one Conolly had me to breakfast 
 at the Army and Navy Club, Pall Mall, and after that 
 we went down the river on one of the many swift- ply- 
 ing, dirty little steamboats, under the many bridges, 
 getting the best view of St. Paul's, and the Monument, 
 and Somerset House, an immense palace now used en- 
 tirely for government offices, and the old Tower with its 
 many associations. How I wish I could remember all 
 the stories about the Tower that I knew when a boy. 
 By the shipping of all nations " below bridge," and the 
 wonderful docks, by Greenwich and Blackwall and to 
 Woolwich, where the artillery camp, arsenal, school, 
 barracks, etc., are. We found Colonel Reilly, whom 
 we were looking for, just turning out with his troops
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 165 
 
 itn full dress, for the burial of a soldier. The uniform 
 is very handsome, the horse artillery being the only 
 corps I believe that retains the full dress jacket or tunic. 
 The officers' dress was one labyrinth of gold lace and 
 bullion. Every man and officer has to turn out for the 
 burial of a private soldier and follow the coffin at slow 
 march to the grave. Again, as it should be in every 
 army. While they were gone we looked through the 
 new hospital, built here on a very large scale, and with 
 every modern improvement. Then we went through 
 the academy, which is devoted entirely to artillery stud- 
 ies. The cadets were fine looking fellows, wearing those 
 nobby little artillery fatigue caps on the side of their 
 head, and with their tight fitting jackets, looked very 
 soldierly. The gymnasium here is the best I ever saw. 
 Then we went back to Colonel Reilly's quarters. He 
 had not returned from the burial, but lunch was ready, 
 and Conolly and I being ready for it, we sailed in. The 
 Colonel returned soon and took us through the men's 
 quarters, etc., etc., which were in the order that you can 
 imagine. Officers do not return the salute of men with- 
 out arms here. We drove in the Colonel's trap over to 
 the chapel, which is very beautiful, and has one of the 
 finest arches that I have seen (Byzantine I believe). 
 Many of the windows are memorial, put up by the dif- 
 ferent troops of horse artillery. The mess-room in the 
 main barracks is a very large and elegant room, and the 
 silver superb. You would fancy yourself in some very 
 Bwell club, from the space and comfort. We came home 
 by rail, and dined at the Army and Navy Club. 
 
 I shall have to stop just where I am, for I must get 
 ihe parcel off in time, and this must go by mail to
 
 166 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 
 
 Moodie. I have put in one of the pockets of your coat 
 a trifling souvenir for Christmas, for yourself. I am 
 waiting patiently for a long letter from you. I suppose 
 it must be long from the time you have been taking to 
 write it. With much love to all yours, 
 
 Believe me sincerely, FRANK. 
 
 BRIGHTON, December 14, 1865. 
 
 Here we are at the Newport of England, in the 
 height of the season, hi comfortable apartments fronting 
 on the Parade, where the world is continually passing 
 and repassing. We are on the ground floor, have a par- 
 lor and dining-room in front, dressing-room and large 
 bed-room in rear. We have been trying for rooms for 
 two weeks, but everything is full. The Adamses have 
 been staying down here, but went to town this week. 
 We had a very kind note from Mrs. Adams yesterday, 
 asking us to go there Friday, but we had taken these 
 rooms and did not like to lose them. She had been ex- 
 pecting us down here, as I told Mr. Adams that we 
 were coming as soon as we could get suitable apart- 
 ments. Charlie Adams is with them now, and we shall 
 Bee him when we return to town. 
 
 Yesterday, Frank, was the best day I have had in 
 England. We went down to Aldershott, under charge 
 of Conolly, on invitation of Lieutenant-general Sir James 
 Scarlett. We found his carriage, etc., waiting at the sta- 
 tion, and were soon at his house, where we received a 
 cordial welcome from the old General. He is a fine 
 looking old fellow, white whiskers and moustache, tall 
 and stout. He won his K. C. B. in the Crimea. His 
 Itaff were fine looking men, well decorated. The troops
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 167 
 
 were all out in line, awaiting our arrival, so we started 
 for the field at once. The General rode a stunning big 
 thorough -bred, and we went in his carriage with two of 
 Lady Abinger's nieces. The field of Aldershott extends 
 for miles without a tree or fence, nothing but barren 
 heath, with a fair division of hilly and level ground. 
 Of course at this season of the year the ground was wet 
 and soft in some places. The old General showed me 
 his morning report before we went out, where I saw 
 that out of 7,000 men he could only get out for work 
 about 4,500, and he asked me if I had not experienced 
 the same annoyance. We know just how to sympathize, 
 don't we, Frank ? You see our army is not the only 
 one where your effective men are consumed by fur- 
 loughs, details, extra duty, etc., etc. Sir James's carriage 
 was allowed to drive inside the line of sentinels, and 
 stand just in rear of the reviewing officers' post. The 
 day, you must know, was perfect, the first sunny day I 
 have seen in England. This long line of cavalry, horse 
 and foot artillery, engineers, and infantry, all in their 
 brilliant uniform, was no common sight to an Ameri- 
 can soldier. There were two regiments of Highlanders, 
 which added color and effect to the picture. The Gen- 
 eral and staff started around the line, and the bands be- 
 gan each in turn, as with us, but, also, the commander 
 of each brigade, with his staff, accompanied the General 
 along the front of his own line, the commander of each 
 regiment and troop and battery the same, which I think 
 is a good plan, don't you ? for a regimental or brigade 
 commander likes to see how his men look and stand just 
 as well as the commanding general. The engineers had 
 their whole pontoon train out with them, the Division
 
 168 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 ambulances and wagons were drawn up, in short, tlu 
 Division was in perfect marching order, ready for a cam- 
 paign. In marching past, the cavalry and artillery came 
 first, alternating, then the engineers, then infantry. They 
 marched by divisions, company officers on the flanks ; 
 only mounted officers saluted, and I noticed that the 
 General returned the salute of each, but did not salute 
 the colors as every other officer in the group did. The 
 Highlanders did the best marching. I have seen as good 
 in America. The bands of each brigade were massed in 
 one, which stood opposite us while its brigade passed, 
 and, as you can imagine, made great music. The cavalry 
 band, which merely fell back a little while the infantry 
 was passing, now came forward, as the cavalry was to 
 pass again at trot. This was very good, the horses ac- 
 tually keeping step with the quick staccato movement. 
 The saddles of the hussars and the harnesses of the ar- 
 tillery were beautiful to behold, the chains of steel were 
 burnished so that they looked like silver. The guns 
 were " browned " breach-loading Armstrong, three-inch. 
 The pontoons and wagons went by, also, at trot, their 
 equipments as perfect and the uniforms of the drivers 
 as handsome as in the artillery. It was something that 
 I wished many times that you were by my side to see 
 with me. The General now gave his brigadiers and 
 chiefs of artillery and cavalry a general idea of what he 
 wanted done, and then, telling us how we could best see 
 the movements, left us in charge of the provost marshal, 
 who had a guard to keep spectatois from interfering 
 with the troops. Sir James's carriage, with our party, 
 was inside this guard, and privileged to move about at 
 will, so as not to be in the way of the troops. If I had
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 169 
 
 known how it was to be, I should have gone prepared 
 to ride, as the General had a horse ready for me. But 
 we saw very well from the carriage. Front was changed 
 to the rear, the cavalry sent off to the left to harass the 
 flank of the enemy, a heavy skirmish line sent forward 
 which opened fire at once, advancing in beautiful order, 
 taking the different crests, which were quickly capped 
 with artillery, opening as soon as it was in position, the 
 first line and supports moving up, keeping their dis- 
 tances well, now moving to the right or left as imagined 
 necessity required. 
 
 It was all so natural and so real, that I expected every 
 minute to hear a bullet whiz by my ear, or a shell go 
 screeching over my head. I saw one flaw, which of 
 course I held my tongue about (but which the General 
 himself spoke about and condemned afterwards) ; the 
 pontoons were sent forward, ready to throw across a 
 canal that intersects the field, and they were right up 
 with the skirmish line without any support, and being 
 very large and heavy and conspicuous, they would have 
 been an easy mark for a good gunner, or have fallen an 
 easy prey to ' a determined dash of cavalry, which could 
 easily have broken through the skirmish line. The 
 pontoons are unlike ours, open wooden boats, but are 
 cylindrical buoys, about twenty feet long and four feet 
 diameter, on which the timbers are laid, and being made 
 of iron, air-tight, would be transformed into pepper-boxes 
 by a clever gunner in no time in such an open country 
 as that. However, the skirmishers cleared the way, and 
 the pontoons were got into the water in safety, and the 
 bridge very quickly laid, over which part of the infantry 
 passed ; the rest, and the artillery, which was all this time
 
 170 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 firing over our heads from the crests in our rear, crossed 
 by a stone bridge farther to the right, the cavalry by 
 one on the left. We went over the pontoon, -which was 
 very solid, sending the carriage around by the stone 
 bridge on account of the horses. It took them about 
 twenty-five minutes, I should think, to get the bridge 
 ready for troops. The enemy (?) now was in full re- 
 treat, and a general advance was made, while the cavalry 
 charged from the flank. 
 
 We drove around through the barracks, which were 
 the picture of neatness, back to Sir James's to lunch. 
 Lady Scarlett we found a nice, dignified old lady. We 
 also found that after an early breakfast and a long morn- 
 ing, we were quite ready for the substantial lunch to 
 which I presently handed in " my lady." After lunch, Sir 
 James spoke of the mistake of having those pontoons in 
 Buch an exposed position, and I was pleased to find that 
 I had seen it. He said I must go down there again in 
 the spring, when he will have twice as many troops, and 
 I shall only be too glad to do so. They were all very 
 cordial and kind, and I don't remember a more enjoya- 
 ble day. It only needed an enemy and ball cartridges, 
 without the lunch and ladies, to make it like many dis- 
 agreeable ones that we have seen. We had to go back 
 to London to take the Brighton train, and got here very 
 comfortably. 
 
 December 15. Yesterday we walked for an hour and 
 a half on the parade, and drove in the afternoon. It is 
 very crowded and gay here, and you see all the swell 
 turnouts. 
 
 But I must cut this short, or you will be bored. 
 Thanks for your nice letter, received last week. I am
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 171 
 
 ielighted to know that you are so nicely " fixed " for 
 the winter. Agnes sends love to your wife, and says 
 your description of your cozy housekeeping just makes 
 us want to go and do likewise. Write me when you 
 have time. Letters from home are a great treat, and 
 impatiently looked for from week to week. 
 
 With a merry Christmas and happy New Year, and 
 with much love from both to both, ever yours, 
 
 FRANK B. 
 
 We shall be in Paris by New Tear's. 
 
 He enjoyed himself in Paris, but his leg was 
 painful. Theatre-lover as he was, he was singu- 
 larly little pleased by the French theatre. On 
 the other hand, he was much impressed and 
 touched by the celebration of Mass in the Chapel 
 of the Invalides. 
 
 It was the most grand and impressive thing I ever 
 Baw or heard. To sit under those old battle- stained 
 flags and think of all the scenes they had been in, 
 of the blood that had been shed around them, and 
 then to listen to this splendid music from the Guides' 
 band, was more than I could stand. The associations 
 crowded upon me in a flood. Martial music always 
 affects me, but here to sit among the old heroes of the 
 first empire, under the very flags they had fought over 
 and won, under the same roof where lie the ashes of 
 emperor and leader, was to me intoxicating, overpow- 
 ering, and I cried like a child. It was foolish and 
 weak and sentimental, I suppose, but I could not help
 
 172 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 it. It is the same sentimentality that makes me want 
 to shout " Vive 1'Empereur " every time I go through 
 the Place Vendome. 
 
 They went to Marseilles and Nice, and thence 
 drove along the Corniche to Genoa. On the 19th 
 of January, 1866, he is on Italian soil, and he 
 writes : 
 
 These Italian soldiers that we see now do not look 
 BO trim and clean and dandy-like as the gallant little 
 Frenchmen. They would do just as good work, per- 
 haps, but there is a good deal in style. 
 
 His first impressions of Italian scenery are thus 
 recorded : 
 
 Keeping through Bracco to the pass of Velva, or the 
 Col, we had a view more extensive than any I had ever 
 seen. Looking across a small bay and over a high hill, 
 we could see the blue waters of the Mediterranean to- 
 wards Genoa, while beyond all that were the beautiful 
 Alps, covered with snow, which we had kept in sight 
 from Nice. It was a very beautiful picture, and we shut 
 it out, as we entered the pass, regretfully. But regret 
 gave way to surprise when, turning from the view we 
 had left, we looked forward again, and there, overlook- 
 ing from our high position miles and miles of mountains 
 and valleys, the eyes rested at length on that grand bank 
 of white clouds rolling up from the horizon. That 
 grand bank of clouds is an eternal one, and those glo- 
 tious snow-covered mountains, tinged to purple in the
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 173 
 
 Blanting sunlight, are the Apennines of Bologna, a hun- 
 dred and fifty miles away. 
 
 By Pisa they went to Florence, where he was 
 treated with distinction by the Minister of the 
 United States, the accomplished scholar and gen- 
 tleman who does so much to sustain the credit of 
 American diplomacy abroad. The growing ten- 
 dency of his mind and heart towards a deep inter- 
 est in religious matters was shown by the regular- 
 ity with which, in these continental wanderings, 
 he found a Protestant church to which to go on 
 Sunday. 
 
 " BELLA FIRENZE," 
 HOTEL DE LA GRANDE BRETAGNK, January 29, 18G6. 
 
 Beautiful Florence, it really is, dear Frank. I like 
 it immensely. We have been here three days, and have 
 made good progress in sight-seeing. That is, in our 
 comfortable way. I do not believe in making a bore of 
 it, and I don't intend to work any harder over here than 
 I should if I were on duty at home. If it were any one 
 else but you to whom I was writing, I should, perhaps, 
 make an apology for long silence ; but I know that no 
 such thing is necessary between us. I have received 
 two letters from you since I wrote; one at Paris, and 
 one last night here. Both delightful ; the last doubly 
 so, because twice as long as the first. 
 
 We have been on the march most of the time sinc< 
 the last of December, when we left London for th 
 continent. We left with more regret than American! 
 generally do, I fancy, and Paris will have to be very
 
 174 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT 
 
 sweet and seductive to keep us from going back there 
 early in the spring. 
 
 I have felt that you would see my letters to the fam- 
 ily, and so know of all our doings, and latterly I have 
 felt that there was so much to tell you, that I did not 
 know where to begin. I am salting down a goodly lot 
 of food for " talk," either at your fireside or mine, for the 
 next few years, and I think of that so often when there 
 are so many things that I cannot write about. 
 
 To bring things down to this point from Paris : "We 
 spent a week there. New Year's was very gay. Every- 
 body in the streets. The Boulevards lined with those 
 little booths or shops for the sale of every variety of 
 " top and whistle." Everybody in the streets good-na- 
 tured and happy. 
 
 The politeness and kindly feeling for each other 
 among the lowest classes is very striking. I could not 
 help noticing, for example, on New Year's morning, 
 there was a blind man opposite our windows in the Rue 
 de la Paix, and while the well-dressed and upper classes 
 passed him by with unconcern, only one now and then 
 stopping to drop something in his hat, not a single poor 
 person passed that way without bestowing his or her 
 mite from their own scanty store, the woman with 
 the big load on her head balancing it with one hand 
 while with the other she hunts in the ragged pocket for 
 a copper sou ; the porter, hurrying by, sets down his 
 load and drops into the hat a coin, with a kindly word of 
 greeting to its owner. It was very touching, and I have 
 since seen more of the same traits. 
 
 Our quarters were very good at the Hotel Westmin- 
 ster, near the Tuileries and Boulevards, in sight of La
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 175 
 
 Place Vendome with its beautiful column. Around the 
 foot of this shaft, you know, is an iron fence, and there 
 were the numberless wreaths of immortelles hanging on 
 the paling, placed there by the old soldiers of the Em- 
 pire and constantly renewed and never removed except 
 by time. On the front of the pedestal are more costly 
 and elaborate ones, but not nearly so significant as those 
 simple offerings by humbler hands. 
 
 I did not do anything in the way of sight-seeing, but 
 devoted myself to getting a good idea of the city, and 
 now I can take you to any part. It is a very easy city 
 to learn, very different in that respect from London, 
 which I believe is worse than Boston to a stranger. I 
 was there so long that I believe I know it pretty well 
 now. 
 
 "VVe did the paintings in the Louvre in one day, and I 
 was disappointed at not finding any of Vernet's battle- 
 pieces there. They are all at Versailles, I believe. 
 
 The Bois de Boulogne is the resort in the afternoon. 
 It does not compare with the Central Park in the way 
 of artificial nature. There is more wood and water, 
 nothing else. Some of the woody drives, and especially 
 rides (Agnes and I rode one day), are very beautiful. 
 You see many swell turnouts, the best and most elegant 
 belonging to the demi-monde. These women, Frank, are 
 the leaders in the way of taste and style, and have such 
 a command of money that ladies cannot vie with them. 
 They set the fashions for the world. 
 
 Agnes thinks that I wrote you from Paris, but I 
 have not any record of it on my log-book. It seems, 
 though, as if I must have told you about going to the 
 Hotel des Invalides. I know I wrote Ben a letter from
 
 176 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 Paris, and it may be that I am thinking of that. I shall 
 have to tell you about that face to face, nothing else 
 will satisfy me. The tomb of the Emperor is very mag- 
 nificent, but not nearly so impressive as I expected. 
 
 I must leave Paris or I shall never get through. The 
 journey to Marseilles and Nice was a long one. Mar- 
 seilles we found rather an interesting city. The view 
 from the hill overhanging the town, taking in the port 
 and bay, was very fine. In the bay is the Chateau d'lf, 
 where Monte Cristo was confined, you know. I found it 
 very hard to realize that that blue water was the Medi- 
 terranean. I could have stood there for hours recalling 
 all the memories and associations that the sight of its 
 beautiful waters stirred up. I only wish I could remem- 
 ber all that I have ever known, or that you were with 
 me, with your faithful memory and large knowledge of 
 past times, to make these scenes doubly interesting. 
 
 Only one night at Marseilles. Then on to Nice 
 through Toulon with its harbor and forts and galleys, 
 through miles and miles of everlasting olive orchards, 
 the hills terraced to the top, looking like some giant's 
 stairway to the upper regions. Very few grapes, now 
 and then a vineyard. At Nice we stayed a week, en- 
 joying much the warm sunshine and soft air after the 
 fogs of London and rain of Paris. The drives about 
 Nice were perfectly lovely, through groves of oranges 
 and hedges of roses in full bloom. The drive to Villa- 
 franca along the sea on the side of the cliff, we thought 
 most of, but since then we have seen so much finer and 
 bolder scenery that it is not worth telling you at this 
 late time of our impressions then. There were many 
 Ajnericans and more English at Nice, and it must be a
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 177 
 
 good place for invalids. No one could be long ill in 
 such a delicious climate. From Nice to Genoa was by 
 vetturino, taking four days and three nights, starting in 
 the morning at about eight or nine, halting for lunch, 
 and getting into good quarters at sundown, finding each 
 day fires on the hearths, the table spread, and a good 
 dinner awaiting us. You have no idea of the comfort of 
 having a good courier. You have all the pleasure of 
 travelling without any of its annoyances. You get up 
 in the morning, and, after a good breakfast, go down and 
 get into your comfortable carriage with four smart horses, 
 find a lunch waiting at your halting-place, and at sunset 
 are shown into your parlor where the table is ready and 
 in your room your portmanteau unlocked and open, 
 everything at your hand. It is the poetry of travel. 
 We are fortunate in having a very good man. We give 
 him the purse, and he does all the rest. Of course I 
 suppose he makes his little perquisites, but I believe it is 
 really cheaper in the end, for you cannot be imposed 
 upon as a stranger, and even if it were more expensive, 
 it makes up for it double in the amount of solid com- 
 fort. 
 
 I can't tell you much now about the journey from 
 Nice to Genoa. It was too grand. Sometimes two 
 thousand feet above the sea, at others on its level, with 
 as many feet of perpendicular rock towering above us. 
 It is hard to say which is the grandest. 
 
 We were at Genoa three or four days in one of the 
 old ducal palaces, Palazzo del Sala. The rooms were 
 spacious, so much so that you had to take a long walk 
 to pick up your various things ; and so high that you felt 
 fts if you were out doors. The walls and ceilings cov- 
 12
 
 178 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 ered with frescoes. There was nothing of cosy comfort 
 in such a place. 
 
 Genoa is very strong ; the walls of the town are very 
 well placed and in perfect preservation, and outside of 
 these, on the surrounding heights, is a chain of immense 
 forts, commanding everything. It would take an army 
 to garrison the place, but a larger one to invest it, and 
 with its port unblockaded, it could not be taken. It is 
 a queer old town. 
 
 The women wear for bonnets white lace or tarlatan 
 veils, pinned over the head and falling around the shoul- 
 ders. With a pretty face it is very becoming; but 
 pretty faces are what you do not see often in Italy. 
 
 The Italian troops are the best-looking of the male 
 population. The little Zouaves are very nobby, with 
 dark blue trousers, and tunic tight around the waist, the 
 skirt about four inches below the belt, and the hat with 
 a round top and wide flat brim with the most ample and 
 graceful mass of waving black cock's plumes. Aiguil- 
 lettes (how do you spell that ?) of dark green braid on 
 the breast, matching the shade of the feathers. 
 
 They are the tidiest, trimmest little fighting-men I 
 have seen, " bar nothing." The officers, for the most 
 part, are good-looking men, and the discipline seems to 
 be very perfect. I have seen no larger body than a reg- 
 iment together. 
 
 The journey from Genoa to Spezzia, which took two 
 days, was even more glorious than the first ; the view at 
 ihe pass of Velva, where you are twenty-one hundred 
 feet above the sea, into which you could almost throw a 
 etone, with the maritime Alps behind you, away beyond 
 Genoa and Nice, and before you, beyond the tops of in-
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 179 
 
 tervening ranges, more than a hundred miles away, white 
 with eternal snow, the Apennines, towards Bologna, 
 it was perfectly grand, and we hated to begin the descent 
 which gradually sunk those white peaks, with the rich 
 colors of the sunlight on them, behind these nearer and 
 smaller hills. As we reached the heights above Spez- 
 zia, we had a glimpse of them again, just as they were 
 tinged with purple at sunset. 
 
 From Spezzia we came by rail to Pisa, stopping only 
 a few hours for lunch, and a visit to the cathedral, tower, 
 etc., and a drive to the Cascine. The tower disappoints 
 you as you see it from the cars on entering the walls ; 
 but when you go to it, your disappointment is turned to 
 surprise and wonder. The cathedral is by far the most 
 superb that we have seen, and differs from the many in 
 being Byzantine instead of Gothic. One of the altars, 
 a gift of the Medicis, is of solid silver, most beautifully 
 wrought. Many of the columns of the church are an- 
 tique, and brought from Greece and Rome. A few good 
 pictures. The Battisterio has the handsomest pulpit in 
 the world. 
 
 "We reached Florence on Friday evening, and shall 
 leave for Rome Friday morning, via Leghorn and Civita 
 Vecchia. We have the best rooms in Rome, on the 
 Corso, the very windows of which command 100 apiece 
 sometimes during the carnival. 
 
 Florence is so rich in objects of interest and beauty, 
 that a person ought to be here six weeks to see what he 
 has to (and does n't) in as many days. The sculpture 
 Vere is my greatest pleasure. Michael Angelo's was 
 the master-hand, and you recognize it at once. The 
 Pitti and Uffizi palaces contain the finest collections of
 
 180 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 paintings in the world. I am not very fond of old paint- 
 ings, but some of Murillo's and Raphael's and Andrea 
 del Sarto's and Titian's are very persuasive. I never 
 can write you about all these things, so you must wait 
 till we have a pow-wow. 
 
 I found on my arrival here a very kind invitation from 
 Garibaldi to visit him at Caprera. I look forward to 
 that with more pleasure than anything else. "We shall 
 not go till our return from Naples, in about three weeks 
 from now. He is very popular here in Italy, much more 
 so than Victor Emmanuel, who, I am surprised to find, 
 is not much liked. As one of these people said the 
 other day in his excitement, " Why, if Garibaldi should 
 land at Leghorn or Naples and announce himself king 
 of Italy, the very paving-stones would rise up and shout 
 in his favor." But he is too good and wise to do any- 
 thing of the sort. I think he has all the more honor for 
 retiring to his island home. The island is near Sardinia, 
 about twelve hours' sail from Leghorn, and by the time 
 you get this I shall be there or on my way. 
 
 The American minister called again yesterday, and 
 was sorry to hear that I was to leave on Friday, as he 
 wished to give me a dinner on that day, and had already 
 sent out some invitations. I am sorry, because he has 
 been very civil. Bigelow Lawrence, consul-general, has 
 also sent passes to various places of interest. 
 
 I shall not have time to write the family this week, 
 and shall wait till we get to Rome. We found nice long 
 Betters from them here. Anna's was a perfect treat, and 
 I wish she would do the same every week. I am glad 
 mother is better. Will you please let them know as 
 much as you choose of what I have written you, and say 
 our next will be from Rome.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 181 
 
 With much love to you and yours, and to all who love 
 as, from Agnes and myself, I am 
 
 Yours, FRANK. 
 
 They went by sea from Leghorn to Civita Vec- 
 chia, and thence to Rome, where they had an 
 apartment on the Corso, and 'saw the Carnival in 
 all its brilliancy. On the 8th of February he 
 writes : 
 
 I find that the girl I have been exchanging confetti 
 and bouquets with these last two days is the Queen of 
 Naples. Caught a bunch of violets this afternoon. She 
 is very pretty. 
 
 Again, on February 12th : 
 
 Exchanged bouquets with the Queen again. She gave 
 me a little beauty, of her own colors. 
 
 On the 17th of February he notes that his foot 
 (his lost foot) is very painful. On the 22d, he 
 was present at the breakfast of Americans in 
 Rome, upon the occasion of the anniversary of 
 the birthday of Washington, and made a speech, 
 of which he says simply : 
 
 People congratulated me on my speech, which I think 
 was pretty poor. 
 
 From Rome they went to Naples, and visited 
 Pompeii, Sorrento, and Capri. 
 
 Many years before, when General Bartlett was 
 a boy, Garibaldi had come to Boston as master of
 
 182 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 an Italian vessel consigned to Mr. Bartlett, the 
 General's father, and had then given him a walk- 
 ing-stick. As the boy grew up, and Garibaldi be- 
 came famous, his career was watched with lively 
 interest by the young American, and when he 
 went to Italy, still a young man, but a crippled 
 general officer of large experience, he made his 
 presence known to Garibaldi, and was by him 
 invited to visit him at his home in the Island of 
 Caprera. As the voyage was likely to be a rough 
 one, he left his wife with her family in Italy, and 
 crossed to the island alone. The accounts of his 
 visit, which he wrote in his journal and in a letter 
 to his mother, are both so interesting that both 
 are given, though each is, to a considerable degree, 
 a repetition of the other. 
 
 JOURNAL. March 11, 1866. The General was out 
 in the field somewhere: had not expected me so soon, 
 but came soon, and I went out to meet him. He came 
 forward with outstretched hands, his face beaming with 
 the same bright, kindly smile that I had carried in my 
 memory for thirteen years. His costume was, as usual, 
 a poncho of woollen stuff over the red shirt, with the 
 handkerchief tied loosely around his neck and hanging 
 down his back. I had grown from the boy to the man 
 in those thirteen years, and he would hardly have re- 
 membered my face elsewhere. He seemed very glad to 
 see me, and asked for all the family at home, and why I 
 had not brought my wife. He had expected her, and 
 had everything ready for her. He remembered the cane
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 183 
 
 that he had given me so many years before, and seemed 
 very much pleased to think I had kept it. He sent for 
 it at dinner to show to the table, and told the story of it 
 to the guests. After I was dressed and rested a little, he 
 came for me to take a walk, and we went down toward 
 the shore, where in a little bay the yacht lay. He asked 
 about America ; is much interested in the Mexican 
 question ; says Napoleon cannot stay there. Showed 
 me the different shrubs, all on the island are aromatic. 
 The lavender is very strong and fragrant. The wild 
 myrtle, and olive, and other names. He took me to see 
 his vines and orangery, and cut some of the ripe fruit to 
 give me. Can this simple man, whose whole interest 
 seems to be centered in his vine and fig-tree, be the man 
 who has given kingdom and power to a king, and 
 who will yet give freedom and unity to a nation ? . . . . 
 Dinner at one. The dishes are regular Italian ones. A 
 Boup, thick with rice or maccaroni ; a stew, with olives 
 cooked in it, figs, oranges, cheese, and wine from the 
 island. At the lower end of the table are some of the 
 General's retainers, a rough set in the exterior, but 
 true of heart, men who would go to the death for the 
 General. Then further up are the two Italians and the 
 Piedmontese, then Menotti and Mrs. Chambers. On 
 our side, Colonel Chambers, then Theresa, then myself, 
 while at the head sits the old hero, presiding over the 
 ^ueer assembly with the grace and dignity of a king. I 
 never knew what a noble head and face the man has 
 before. I can hardly keep my eyes off him. His head 
 
 looks as if it were made to wear a crown When 
 
 and where shall I see the General again next? Power- 
 ful at Rome, capital of a united Italy, I trust.
 
 184 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 CAPRERA, March 12, 1866. 
 
 "Well, here I am " at home " in Garibaldi's house. 
 When I woke up on Sunday morning, after being tor- 
 mented all night long, we had just come to anchor in 
 the snug little harbor of Maddalena. I went ashore di- 
 rectly, and found the whole population of the town on 
 the shore to receive us. The arrival of the boat is the 
 event of the week, of course. There was a Custom 
 House, here as elsewhere, and my poor little valise had 
 to go and be opened. If it had been at the other end 
 of the town it was only a matter of a few steps, but it 
 was nearer. From the custom house I went towards 
 the hotel (?), followed by a small boy under the valise. 
 I had n't gone far when I was met by a great, fine-look- 
 ing fellow, who asked me in broken English if that were 
 General Bartlett. I knew it must be Menotti, the Gen- 
 eral's eldest son, for I had heard he was on the island. 
 He said his father was expecting me at Caprera. He 
 does n't talk any English, but we got on in French. We 
 went to the hotel, wherein the grand room was about 
 twelve by seven, and seemed to be the kitchen, sitting, 
 dining, and sleeping-room. I took my cup of coffee and 
 crust of bread, and then went to the boat, where there 
 were three men to pull me over to the island. Menotti 
 stayed to bring the mail. It is about three miles from 
 Maddalena to Caprera, and the channel winds among 
 the islands and rocks very prettily. It was a walk of 
 about a quarter of a mile from the little cove where we 
 landed, up to the house. The island looks exactly like 
 one of the Isles of Shoals, all rocks, but here and there 
 on the way up to the house I saw several good fields, 
 that had been as it were hewn out of the rock. The
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 185 
 
 house is white, and one part of two stories, the last ad- 
 dition. The General was not in when I got there, but I 
 was shown into the dining-room, and in a few minutes 
 he came from one of his fields. I went out to meet him, 
 and he stretched out his hands, and the welcome that 
 he gave me was warm and kind. He seemed very glad 
 to see me, asked for all the family, and laughed heartily 
 when I recalled Fanny's speech to him. I talked with 
 him awhile, and then he took me to my room. He was 
 very sorry Agnes did not come ; he had a room next to 
 mine ready for her. I found I had Menotti's room. It 
 is on the ground floor, in the newest part of the house. 
 Across the entry are Colonel and Mrs. Chambers, some 
 English friends of the General. Above are Theresa 
 (Madame Canzio), his daughter, and her children, etc. 
 The General's room is in the other part, just across this 
 little garden. After I was dressed and rested a little, 
 he came for me to go to walk with him, and we went 
 down towards the cove where the yacht lies. He talked 
 about America and the war. He believed, and told the 
 Italians from the beginning, that there was only one 
 question in the world and that was the American ques- 
 tion. It was as important to them as it was to the 
 Americans themselves. That if the North did not suc- 
 ceed, liberty would be put back for all the world a hun- 
 dred years. That America must not allow Napoleon to 
 extend his despotism by putting Maximilian in Mexico. 
 That the Italians were waiting for him to be over- 
 thrown there, etc., etc. We met Colonel and Mrs. 
 Chambers. They seem to be very decent people, and 
 ire devoted to the General. He has written a history of 
 * Garibaldi and Italian Unity," of which he has given
 
 186 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 me a copy. It was published in England, just before 
 Garibaldi went there, and contains facts that I don't be- 
 lieve are known in America. 
 
 He took us back through his orange orchard and 
 vineyard. Each tree has to be walled around with a 
 screen of brush to guard it from the terrible winds that 
 sweep the island ; but they were in good condition, full 
 of fruit and blossoms. He took the gardener's knife, 
 which hangs at his side by a little chain, and cut some 
 of the fruit for me. It was hard to believe that this 
 noble-looking man, whose chief care seemed to be his 
 vines and trees, was the one who, as "dictator of the 
 two Sicilies," had given kingdoms to a king. He 
 showed me the various shrubs on the island. They are 
 all aromatic. At about one o'clock the boat arrived 
 from Maddalena, with Menotti and three visitors who 
 had come in the same steamer with me, all Italians ; two 
 are engineers who are to see about sinking an artesian 
 well here ; the other, a Piedmontese, we think is a spy. 
 It is not unusual, somebody or other comes by every 
 boat. Dinner is ready, and when I went in I found the 
 room full, the General at the head, standing till I should 
 come. The General put me on his left, Mrs. Chambers 
 on his right, and then told the others to be seated. 
 There are in all at the table about fifteen, and it is a 
 regular Italian meal, soup, then a stew of some kind of 
 meat with olives cooked in it, bread from his own flour 
 and his own mill, wine from his own vineyard, oranges 
 and figs from his own trees, cheese from his own dairy. 
 This was the dinner, a most ample supply of everything. 
 The General would talk first to me and then to his Ital- 
 ians, and then interpret what he had been saying to
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 187 
 
 them. He was in good spirits, looks older, of course, 
 than we remember him, but walks with a cane very 
 well. It is a queer assembly around the board ; the 
 lower end do not go in much for dress, and are a rough- 
 looking set, but they are all devoted to the General, who 
 sits there in his usual costume, a poncho of dark woollen 
 stuff over the red shirt, a small fez or smoking-cap on 
 his head when in the house, and presiding over all with 
 the grace and dignity of a king. I never knew before 
 what a superb face he has, and what a glorious voice ; 
 when he would get warmed on any subject, it would 
 ring as clear and sweet as a bell. 
 
 At about six o'clock there is supper, and, as far as I 
 can see, it is the same thing repeated that we have at 
 one o'clock, except, instead of coffee afterwards, we have 
 tea. We all sit around the table for an hour after, and 
 then the General rises, bids good-night to all, and goes 
 to his own room, and the day is over. I pass an hour 
 in the room of Colonel Chambers, and then to bed. I 
 breakfast at nine with Colonel and Mrs. C. on coffee 
 and dry bread. There is no butter on the island. The 
 island reminds me constantly of the Isles of Shoals, 
 just that appearance of rock, but in the ravines, where 
 the sun gets a chance, there is almost a tropical vegeta- 
 tion. From the rocks above the house there is a beauti- 
 ful view of this group of islands, and to the south Sar- 
 dinia and north Corsica with its snow-capped hills, which 
 seem within rifle-shot but are ninety miles away. 
 
 While he was in the midst of such interesting 
 scenes and people abroad, he did not lose his in- 
 serest in affairs at home, for at the same time we 
 him writing to his mother :
 
 188 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 I have just read to-day in the Paris paper of the 
 President's veto on the Freedmen's Bill. I think his 
 reasons are very just and wise and sound. There seems 
 to be a party at home which is determined that we 
 shan't have " peace at any price." 
 
 March 15. Florence. We hear that President John- 
 son has made a speech in which he has " laid out " the 
 radical disunionists. We are anxious to see it. I think 
 his veto on the Freedmen's Bill was very good. He 
 believes, as I do, that if a white man is not quite as good 
 as a negro, he is almost, and therefore ought to have at 
 least an equal chance with him. 
 
 After his visit to Caprera, General Bartlett and 
 his wife moved northward through the principal 
 Italian cities, and crossed Mont Cenis into Swit- 
 zerland, and thence journeyed on to Paris. At 
 Strasbourg he was not well, and at Nancy he had 
 typhoidal symptoms, but in Paris he felt better 
 again, though he records there on the 20th April, 
 " I have had a little touch of that nasty Naples 
 fever, but am all right again now, I believe, ex- 
 cept the pain in the head." 
 
 FEIBODRO, April 1, 1866. 
 
 Here we are in this queer old Dutch town, the first 
 we have been in, Agnes and I. We separated from the 
 family at Culoz, after coming across the Alps by the 
 Mont Cenis. 
 
 We found Geneva, where we spent Thursday and 
 Good Friday, a very quiet, clean, delightful town, with
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 189 
 
 enticing shops, and beautiful views of snow-clad moun- 
 tains. 
 
 We found the most comfortable hotel there that we 
 have had anywhere. Our apartments and table were 
 more like what you would make them at home, and our 
 windows opened on that lovely lake, with those snow- 
 white mountains beyond, and Mont Blanc overlooking 
 all, when it was clear. 
 
 We left Geneva with regret yesterday afternoon, and 
 after skirting the lake to Lausanne, we crossed through 
 a country that looks very like our own, in hills and pine 
 trees, to Fribourg. 
 
 We wanted to hear the great organ, see the bridges, 
 and get away to-day at noon for Basle, but it being a 
 grand fete day Easter they are not allowed to ex- 
 hibit the first, and it being very rainy we could not see 
 to any advantage the second ; so here we have to stay 
 till to-morrow at noon. We went to the cathedral for 
 Mass, this morning, however, and heard the best singing 
 and music that we have found in any church in Europe. 
 The organ was played at intervals during the service, 
 but of course nothing to show its powers. 
 
 The bridges are very wonderful in lightness and 
 height. They look like cobwebs stretched across the 
 chasm two hundred feet below. They are very much 
 lighter in material than the English bridges, or ours at 
 Niagara. (A party of students, just about as drunk as 
 they make them at home sometimes, are just going un- 
 der our windows, singing as best they can " Ubi sunt o 
 pocula," etc. 
 
 We shall have the organ played for our especial bene- 
 fit to-morrow morning, take another look at the bridges,
 
 190 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 if it does not rain, and leave for Basle via Berne. At 
 Basle we touch the Rhine. From there we go up to 
 Strasbourg, thence to Paris through the Champagne 
 country, stopping, perhaps, at Chalons-sur-Marne, to see 
 the French camp. 
 
 MY DEAR COLONEL PALFREY, I want just to tell 
 you that you were perfectly right in saying what you did 
 about Frank's French and Italian. He astonishes me 
 more and more every day by knowing, intuitively, just 
 what is necessary not only as regards these "strange 
 tongues," but about every locality, where the places of 
 interest are, which are worth seeing, and which may be 
 " cut." He is a sort of general guide-book to the whole 
 family, and nothing delights me so much as to see how 
 father depends upon Frank for everything. I have 
 always felt it would be so if ever they were thrown 
 much together, and you can imagine how happy and 
 proud I am to see that it is all coming true. Frank is 
 getting quite stout; still I do not feel alarmed as yet 
 lest he should grow corpulent. I know you will all 
 think he looks well and brown, more like his old self 
 as you remember him in the old days when you two 
 were so inseparable. If Frank gets his extension, we 
 shall hope to be in London for next month. I must not 
 encroach on Frank's ground any longer. 
 
 Kind love to all your father's family, and believe me, 
 sincerely yours, AGNES BARTLETT. 
 
 I find my first sheet is filled, but I know you won't 
 mind the change in the writing. I let Agnes write very 
 little, and when she gets a vacant half-sheet, with a pen
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 191 
 
 at hand, she makes very quick work of it while one's 
 back is turned. She is very much better since we left 
 Naples. The enervating air there did not agree with 
 her at all, and I was very glad to have her further north. 
 The air of Venice was a complete change, and she has 
 been a different creature ever since. I have directed my 
 home letters lately to be turned over to you, and so you 
 know of our movements up to leaving Venice, which 
 we did regretfully on the 22d. I think I should like a 
 month or two there every summer. The first night, 
 halted inside the mighty walls of Verona. That night, 
 in looking over the book in which I wrote our names, 
 and which was begun in 1818, I found among our illus- 
 trious predecessors the names of Bonaparte, R. C. 
 Winthrop, etc. I wish you could have been at Verona 
 with me ; the place is one of the strongest in Europe, 
 and cannot be taken except by a very long siege. Here 
 is the first square bastion that was ever built, and 
 where our present system of fortification may be said to 
 have been begun. The old gates are miracles of strength 
 and architecture combined. The walls command the 
 plain in every direction except the southeast, I think, 
 where the hill rises which is crowned by one of the 
 strongest works, the Castel San Pietro. 
 
 But your brother, who has not been there, can prob- 
 ably tell you more about it than I, who have. 
 
 The old Roman amphitheatre, built at the same time 
 with the Coliseum, is not so large, but wonderfully pre- 
 served, and is a beautiful sample of the Roman works. 
 I went to the top of it, and was repaid by a beautiful 
 view of the town and works and the Tyrolese Alps in the 
 distance. Went through the picture gallery, in which
 
 192 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 there were only two decent paintings, modern pictures, 
 that I was expecting to find there, done by a man named 
 Rotta, a Venetian. They were the last two that I came 
 to, and rewarded me for wading through the others. If 
 my purse had been stronger, my story might have been 
 longer, etc. 
 
 Came to Milan that night, crossing the frontier at the 
 Lago di Garda, and exchanging the stupid, sullen, white- 
 coated Croats for the lithe, nobby little Bersaglieri. 
 
 Milan is more like one of our cities, clean, busy, jright. 
 It seemed more alive than Italian cities usually. The 
 cathedral there is beyond comparison the most superb 
 and imposing thing in Europe. St. Peter's cannot be- 
 gin to compare with it, in my estimation. 
 
 Nothing is so impressive, so sublime, as those lofty 
 Gothic arches. You feel like falling on your knees and 
 saying your prayers. It was the first church, Frank, 
 where I have forgotten the cold, forgotten the fatigue of 
 standing on the marble floors, and been sorry to put on 
 my hat outside the great cloth doors that are hung from 
 the top in all these churches, and, weighing hundreds of 
 pounds, have a very wicked way of knocking a "heretic" 
 down. The Arch of Peace, begun by Napoleon, carried 
 on by the Austrians, finished by Victor Emmanuel and 
 his imperial ally, is a beautiful structure, with some very 
 good bronze horses on the top. Between this and the 
 town where the old castle stands, is one of the best pa- 
 rade grounds I have seen. You could review fifty thou- 
 sand men there with ease (if you had them), and I sup- 
 pose that is a place where fifty thousand men would have 
 been worth a good deal, many times. A drive on the 
 Corso, Sunday afternoon, shows you a great many fine
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 193 
 
 turnouts, the yellow with powdered coachmen and foot- 
 men prevailing. 
 
 From Milan to Turin gives you some beautiful views 
 of the Alps, and Monte Rosa, as it is well named, 
 as the sun was setting, was worth coming to Italy to see. 
 There will not be five days in the year when it is so 
 clear as it was that day. 
 
 PARIS, MEURICE'S, April 5, 1866. 
 
 Here we are, dear Frank, back again in delightful 
 quarters in the Rue Rivoli, overlooking the gardens of 
 the Tuileries. 
 
 We left the snowy Alps on our right as we went north- 
 ward through a pretty country, which looks more like 
 our own than anything we have seen, . thrifty little 
 farmhouses in the midst of apple orchards, with now and 
 then a belt of pine woods. Everything looked neat and 
 tidy, so different from lazy, oily Italy. The cars, too, 
 on the Swiss roads, are the best in Europe. We passed 
 through Olten and Basle, to Strasbourg, a good day's 
 journey. The next morning we sallied forth to do Stras- 
 bourg. The cathedral is a magnificent building inside, 
 very massive but very graceful Gothic, the windows very 
 beautiful. Outside, it is to my mind not graceful or well- 
 proportioned. The second spire, which was to have been 
 as high as the first, was never put up, and of course that 
 gives it an unfinished look. But it is very high, twice 
 the height of " Bunker Hill," and " open work," with 
 carved figures in stone, to the very top, which is sur- 
 mounted with a figure which looks life-size, but must of 
 course be immense and shapeless when near it. At 
 twelve we saw the wonderful clock strike, which looks 
 like a small cathedral in itself. I suppose there is the 
 
 13
 
 194 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 
 
 same crowd before it every day at that hour, of the cas- 
 ual passers-by, the wooden-shod peasants who have 
 come in from the country and heard of this wonderful 
 toy, and the better-dressed but no less curious and eager 
 strangers, who have timed their visit to see the hour 
 of twelve announced by the puppets, the apostles, the 
 hour-glass, the cock crow, etc. I think the cock is the 
 cleverest part of it. 
 
 We drove to the Rhine and walked across into Ger- 
 many over the bridge of boats at Kehl. It was very 
 queer to notice the different uniform and style of soldiers 
 at each end of the bridge. 
 
 This must go by to-night's mail, and I must close it 
 at once. 
 
 Love to all yours. In haste, FRANK. 
 
 LONDON, May 12, 1866. 
 
 I received your nice letter of the 18-21st ult. this 
 week, and it differed not from all yours in being delight- 
 ful. We were very glad to get back to old London 
 again, although the past four months have been one 
 dream of pleasure. I cannot help feeling regret that my 
 illness in Paris prevented me from seeing more of the 
 life there, and knowing more of the French troops ; but 
 who knows? we may be there together, one of these 
 days! 
 
 You were nearly right about a man's feelings at being 
 mustered out, but still I gave myself very little trouble 
 about it. I could expect nothing else, as the time of my 
 original leave had expired, and I did n't hope to stay in 
 longer than that when I took it. There are a great 
 many general officers who have suffered as much loss,
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 195 
 
 Mid done infinitely more service, mustered out, and I 
 don't see why I should be retained any more than they. 
 I speak to you as I would to myself, you know. 
 
 Mr. Stan ton has been very kind to me throughout, 
 and I suppose that it was by his means that my muster- 
 out has been again suspended. Until my leave is up, I 
 suppose, I can't think any longer what I shall do then 
 remains to be seen. It will depend upon what I can 
 have in the regular army. I have made no application, 
 taken no steps to obtain an appointment, but I suppose, 
 like Mr. M., I shall " wait for something to turn up." I 
 think my uncle would prefer to have me stay in the 
 army to going into any other profession or business, for 
 the present ; and if I can earn my bread and butter, with 
 pleasant surroundings, why, it is all that I can ask. But 
 in the army or out, I hope I shall always be a soldier at 
 heart. No " General Order " can ever take that satis- 
 faction away from me, and until the " Special Order " 
 comes from the Higher Authority, mustering me out 
 altogether or, excuse me, transferring me from this 
 corps (e), I will try not to disgrace the name. 
 
 There is a terrible panic here just now ; one of the 
 largest banking companies in the kingdom failed yester- 
 day ; liabilities only twenty -two million pounds sterling. 
 Several other banks will have to suspend to-day, and 
 everybody looks very blue. American securities, five- 
 twenties, could not be bought yesterday. No one will 
 part with them. Rather a let-down for people who were 
 sneering at our bankruptcy two years ago, and disposed 
 to facilitate it. Serves them i ight ; and the men over 
 here who have been true to the North, and backed her 
 by putting their money in her stocks, are now reaping 
 their reward.
 
 196 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 
 
 i 
 
 The prospect for a European war seems almost cer- 
 tain. Napoleon can alone stop it, and I do not think he 
 is disposed to. I am very glad I have been through, 
 that country. We could n't go there now, through 
 Venetia. If there is fighting, I shall understand it so 
 much better. The Italians are crazy for war, and the 
 demonstrations for Garibaldi as their leader, especially 
 in the south of Italy, are wildly enthusiastic. I know 
 that he did not want to move this year on account of the 
 cholera, but we shall see what we shall see. I should like 
 to stay over here, and go' down there as a looker-on. I 
 must close. We, I say we, have ordered a hat for your 
 wife which I hope she will like, at Brown's. I don't 
 think there is much style in hats here, and in Paris we 
 saw very few. The bonnets of the period there are 
 very pretty, when you can discover them among the 
 hair. 
 
 Good-by, love to all yours ; by the time you get this 
 we shall, D. V., be about sailing, with a full moon and, 
 I hope, good weather. 
 
 Yours, FRANK. 
 
 General Bartlett returned with, his wife to 
 America in June, 1866, and from that time for 
 more than a year he made his home at Pittsfield, 
 in The Homestead. He was mustered out of the 
 military service of the United States in July. Oc 
 the 16th of September his first child, a daughter, 
 was born. He seems to have had at first some 
 thoughts of seeking employment in the diplomatic 
 service of the government, but nothing came of
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 197 
 
 it. His uncle, Edwin Bartlett, between whom 
 and himself there existed strong ties of affection, 
 and for whose judgment he had great respect, 
 preferred that he should turn his attention to 
 business, preferably manufactures, and he warmly 
 commended his refusal of the post of Collector of 
 the Port of Boston. To this matter, and to other 
 offers of political advancement, the following let- 
 ters relate, and they also show the general course 
 of his life after his return from Europe. It only 
 needs to be added, that from this time he was 
 frequently asked to be a delegate to, or an officer 
 of political conventions and the like, and that 
 these offers and applications show how remarka- 
 bly the young man of twenty-six had attracted 
 the attention of a community from which he had 
 gone forth as a college undergraduate, and with 
 which he had hardly mingled for five years ex- 
 cept as a wounded officer on sick leave of absence. 
 
 PITTSFIELD, August 23, 1866. 
 
 I was sadly shocked to see the death of poor Hay- 
 ward 1 in the paper. It does seem hard, these inscruta- 
 ble ways of Providence, in carrying men through dan- 
 gers of no ordinary sort, and then letting them suddenly 
 drop. You and I carry with us, always, mementoes of 
 Hayward's handiwork, that we shall cherish a whit more 
 
 1 Formerly surgeon of the Twentieth Massachusetts Infantry. 
 This gallant and accomplished man fell a victim, a short time he- 
 fore the day appointed for his marriage, to his devotion to charity 
 patients during the prevalence of cholera in St. Louis.
 
 198 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 kindly now that the comrade who served us so well has 
 gone. 
 
 I was very glad to see Humphreys' appointment. It 
 makes up for some of the disgusting ones. Augur is to 
 have West Point, which is also very satisfactory. He 
 is just the man for it, and was most popular there before 
 the war. The Philadelphia Convention seems to have 
 gone off to the satisfaction of all concerned in it. I 
 don't think the theatricals indulged in will count for 
 much. As scenic effect it was good. I see that my 
 name is put among some others as delegate to the Con- 
 vention on September 3. It struck me as rather queer, 
 but still Of course I cannot think of " accepting the 
 honor." There seem to be many good names on the 
 list, and a few only of scaly ones. 
 
 My love to your wife. I suppose I ought to be very 
 glad that you are so busy, and I am ; but do not work 
 too hard. 
 
 I feel much more settled and contented since I had 
 that talk with Judge Abbott, and decided not to take 
 any government appointment. I feel so perfectly inde- 
 pendent. My uncle approves my learning the details of 
 manufacturing, and I shall be on the lookout for some 
 position in that line. 
 
 With much love, Yours, FRANK. 
 
 CONFIDENTIAL. BOSTON, August 26, 1866. 
 
 I wanted very much to see you this morning, before 
 deciding about the offer. You must confess it was 
 rather staggering. The thing was to be done immedi- 
 ately, if I consented. Judge Abbott held to his advice of 
 ihe other day as to any subordinate position, but this was
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS B ART LEI F. 199 
 
 a different thing, the second commercial office in the 
 country, with a salary from twelve to fifteen thousand 
 dollars and often upwards, but it would involve being 
 here constantly for the next six weeks or two months, 
 a pretty thorough renovation of the Custom House, 
 standing any amount of abuse and blackguarding, which, 
 though it broke no bones, would be disagreeable, etc. 
 
 I believe my duty is clear, to stay with my wife, and 
 execute the trust and bear the responsibilities thrown 
 upon me by the detention of Mr. and Mrs. Pomeroy. 
 I have charge of everything up there, and it would be 
 impossible for me to leave within the next few days and 
 come here, as I should have to. I told Judge Abbott 
 that I did not see my way clear to take it. That the 
 honor of being selected for it would, perhaps, be more 
 pleasant than the actual possession of the office. I be- 
 lieve he approves of my resisting the temptation, and he 
 implied that he would have been glad to have had 
 Henry or Ned do the same under similar circumstances. 
 I hope you will agree with me that it was my duty to 
 refuse it. I don't believe I shall ever regret it. I wish 
 I could have a talk with you. Write me a few lines, if 
 you have time. Love to your wife. 
 
 In haste, yours. 
 
 FRANK. 
 
 This is confidential. I would n't say anything about it. 
 
 THE HOMESTEAD, PITTSFIELD, September 7, 1866. 
 
 I was very glad to get your letter, and know that you 
 
 approved of my decision in the Collector business. You 
 
 }ust confirmed my views in the matter. I don't think I 
 
 Wve for a moment regretted it, and I believe I am much
 
 200 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 happier to-day than I should have been had I been car- 
 ried away by the tempting offer. I am sorry to see that 
 the papers have me as one of the persons named in con- 
 nection with the office, together with John Adams, Geo. 
 Ashmun, General Couch, etc. I don't know how they 
 could have heard it, unless it had been spoken of be- 
 fore I heard it, for I have not said anything about it. 
 After what has passed, I do not care to be thought a 
 disappointed office-seeker, as I shall be when the ap- 
 pointment is made ; and you are at liberty to state that 
 I am not a candidate for the office. That I have been 
 offered the position and refused it, I do not wish to state. 
 I do not think it would be fair to Judge Abbott and the 
 other party leaders who were so kind as to give me the 
 refusal of it. 
 
 I saw my name as one of ^he Vice-presidents of a meet- 
 ing in Tremont Temple a few nights since. That was, 
 of course, without consisting me. I fancy that as far as 
 the President goes, you and I think alike, and that we 
 are equally sorry to see the chief magistrate so lower- 
 ing the dignity o* his high office. I had only a moment 
 in which to thank you for your good letter. Agnes con- 
 tinues persistently well, and I tell her it is all humbug 
 about her being ill at all. Mr. and Mrs. Pomeroy will 
 not be here till the 3d of October. Before that time I 
 hope she will be convalescent. 
 
 I see that our friend Butler is trying to get to Con- 
 gress. If he does, will it vacate his commission of Gen- 
 eral of the Militia ? Jf so, we must think about that. 
 Love to your wife, who is, I hope, as well as mine, 
 arho sends love to you both, with mine to you. 
 
 FRANK.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 201 
 
 September 11, 1866. 
 
 Yours of 9th received. I am very sorry that I can- 
 not be with you to-morrow. For though I have no 
 share in the honor of the Twentieth in all those battles, 
 still there is nothing on earth that I am prouder of than 
 her glorious record. 
 
 My love to every one who remembers me, and to 
 those who do not, my kind regards. 
 
 Agnes continues well. Glad you have found a house 
 and in such a good locality. 
 
 In haste, yours ever, FRANK. 
 
 The foregoing letter refers to the presentation 
 at the State-house of Massachusetts of a regi- 
 mental color of the Twentieth Massachusetts In- 
 fantry, bearing the names of the battles which it 
 was authorized by General Orders to have in- 
 scribed upon it. To the Twentieth was assigned 
 the privilege of inscribing upon its colors more 
 names of battles than any other infantry regi- 
 ment in the army of the Potomac. 
 
 PITTSFIELD, September 17, 1866. 
 
 The telegram that I sent this morning will tell 
 you how relieved and happy we all are that Agnes has 
 got through so nicely, and has such a strong, healthy, 
 and pretty baby. I was never very intimate with ladies 
 at this age, and am not a judge of female beauty on such 
 a small scale, but those who seem to be more compe- 
 tent, say that it is a remarkable good " specimen of the 
 style in the early ages." But I am so glad and relieved
 
 202 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 that Agnes is so well, that I should not have complained 
 if it had been a monkey. 
 
 I suppose it ought to have been a boy, to satisfy the 
 large family of which I am the only hope for the trans- 
 mittal of the name, but, as I say, I do not care a rap so 
 long as Agnes is all right. I know you will be glad to 
 hear such good news from her. Much love to your wife 
 and keep for yourself all that you want You know you 
 have carte blanche there. Is n't it four years to-day 
 since you stopped that grape-shot ? I saw by the papers 
 that I was a delegate to the Cleveland Convention, but 
 on receipt of the notice " declined the honor." My uncle 
 entirely approved of my decision in re Coll., of which I 
 am glad. Yours ever, FRANK. 
 
 [Published with the permission of the writer.] 
 42 COURT STREET, BOSTON, September 25, 1866. 
 
 MY DEAR BARTLETT, Subsequent events have 
 made me the more satisfied that I did not urge you, 
 under the circumstances, to take the place of Collector. 
 I can explain this to you when I see you, but I am sat- 
 isfied that I was right in not urging you. 
 
 I desire fo know now, if you will permit your name to 
 be used as candidate for Governor of the Constitutional 
 Union Party, not the Democratick, in the coming 
 election ? Of course there is no danger of election. I 
 think, however, there will be a vote of over fifty thou- 
 sand, a very respectable number to begin with. I have 
 no doubt ground will be taken in favor of the soldiers' 
 bounties, and my belief is, you would get a large por- 
 tion of their votes. You can trust me that your name 
 Will not be used unless the nomination would be sub-
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 203 
 
 Btantially unanimous. If you yet think of a foreign mis- 
 sion, I think this would be advantageous. I think, too, 
 although very probably we may be defeated at the 
 coming election in the country, that we are right, and 
 shall be sure to prevail two years hence, when, from 
 present appearances, General Butler will be the candi- 
 date of the Radicals and General Grant of the other side. 
 Be kind enough to let me know by return of mail how 
 I may act in the matter. I don't want to urge you, but 
 certainly I think the nomination would be very compli- 
 mentary. 
 
 Very sincerely your friend, J. G. ABBOTT. 
 
 PITTSFIELD, September 27, 1866. 
 
 MY DEAR JUDGE, It would be very strange if I did 
 not feel deeply the honor which your confidence and the 
 contents of your favor of the 25th do me. 
 
 I have not regretted the decision that I made in the 
 case of the collectorship, and I shall never forget your 
 delicacy and consideration at that time in not urging me 
 to do what I did not think was clearly my duty. I be- 
 lieve you acted by me as you would have done by Henry, 
 and I could ask nothing more. I believe that I decided 
 as he would have decided under the circumstances, and 
 you could ask nothing more. The present offer seems to 
 me to have more objections and fewer inducements. On 
 principle, I never like to attempt anything in which 
 I do not intend to succeed, and here there is no chance 
 of success at the start. 
 
 The acceptance of the nomination would lose me more 
 friends than my election, even if that were possible, 
 would gain me ; you see I speak to you frankly and
 
 204 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 selfishly. You know how fearfully one-sided politics are 
 in this State. 
 
 I cannot tell you how it pains me to decline any offer 
 made by one whom I honor and respect so highly, and 
 I believe you know that if it were any service to you 
 personally, I would do it at any sacrifice. 
 
 I have succeeded thus far in keeping out of politics, 
 acting mainly on your good advice, and I feel that you 
 will say that I do wisely in shunning them still, by deny- 
 ing myself the honorable prominence which the nomina- 
 tion would give me, to end only in defeat. 
 
 I am, with sincere regard, 
 
 Ever yours, W. F. B. 
 
 September 28, 1866, Saturday p. M. 
 
 This is really the first moment I have had for writing 
 you since I sent that telegram. I did not want to write 
 it out, but thought you would understand, as you did. 
 Before I received your answer, I had written Judge 
 Abbott substantially as follows : 
 
 [Here follows a copy of the foregoing letter.] 
 
 I think that answer agrees pretty nearly with the 
 views expressed in your letter. You must excuse my 
 telegraphing in such an abrupt way, but you see how 
 directly my mind turns to you when I need advice. I 
 hope you will take it as I interpret it to myself, a proof 
 of my love and confidence. 
 
 This morning I had a note from the Judge, saying 
 he was glad I had decided as I had, although he thought 
 it was right that I should have been offered the nomina- 
 tion, which would have been unanimous.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 205 
 
 So, that is all settled. I wonder what will come next. 
 I hope something in the way of business soon. 
 
 Agnes improves every day sate up to-day altogether 
 five hours. Is being very good and prudent. 
 
 The mail clones. With much love to you and your 
 wife from us, Ever sincerely yours, 
 
 FRANK. 
 
 I saw your brother's brevet and was delighted. It 
 was well earned. 
 
 General Bartlett passed the whole of the year 
 1867 in Berkshire County, most of it at The 
 Homestead in Pittsfield, and the rest in a snug 
 little house which he fitted up in the adjoining 
 town of Dalton, and which he named The Box. 
 The letters presently to be given contain some 
 account of the opportunities for honorable em- 
 ployment which came almost or quite within his 
 reach. Besides the presidency of the New York 
 Company, he was recommended for the post of 
 United States Marshal for the District of Massa- 
 chusetts ; but the appointment was not made. 
 Early in this year, he determined to take charge 
 of a paper-mill in Dalton, and the purchase of 
 that property was the occasion of his removing 
 to that town. From June onward he was ac- 
 tively occupied with this business. 
 
 PITTSFIELD, January 7, 1867. 
 
 I write a line in great haste, to tell you that if the 
 toads are not all filled up again, as they are likely to be
 
 206 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 
 
 by the way the snow is blowing to-night, I shall leave 
 early to-morrow morning for my uncle's. 
 
 A letter from him to-day says: A new savings and 
 life insurance company is being formed under the au- 
 spices of such men as Dix, J. J. Cisco, banker, assistant 
 treasurer, etc., Hamilton Fish, ex-governor, Washington 
 Hunt, ex-governor 
 
 It is to combine savings-bank and life-insurance on 
 a principle which contains many things new in this 
 country, but from reading the plan I should think very 
 excellent ones. I will send you the plan when I have 
 another. The point is that the presidency of the thing 
 will probably be tendered to me. It was offered to Dix, 
 and he was to take it if he had not gone abroad. 
 Would n't it be a very flattering position for a young- 
 ster? Do you think I am "up" to such a place? I 
 know you will tell me what you think. I should have 
 to reside in New York. That I should n't like, but I 
 would not of course let that stand in the way one mo- 
 ment of my having an honorable and profitable employ- 
 ment. The salary will be from eight to ten thousand 
 dollars. Of course it is all uncertain as yet, and you 
 won't speak of it unless you hear more from me. I am 
 to go to New York with my uncle to see some of the 
 parties, when I suppose it will be decided. Glad your 
 wife continues to improve. The baby's weight to-day 
 15J. Much love to you both. 
 
 Excuse haste, FRANK. 
 
 You Bee how naturally I turn to you in any important 
 affair.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 207 
 
 PITTSFIELD, January 22, 1867. 
 
 1 suppose you think I am under the snow, if not 
 under the sod. 
 
 I came up from New York with my uncle last 
 Wednesday, and Thursday the storm began. My uncle 
 could not get away from here till Saturday evening, and 
 no news from Boston till Monday. Now the trains are 
 beginning to get through, but the air seems full of snow, 
 and there is no dependence to be placed on the weather. 
 
 I long to hear how you and your wife are, and the 
 little Marian. I found your kind letter in New York, 
 where we went on Monday, 14th. After talking over 
 the matter of which I wrote you, with my uncle, and 
 Mr. Aspinwall, and Mr. Alsop, we found many more 
 objections to my taking it than at first appeared. It 
 will necessarily be up-hill work for a year or two, with 
 pretty close confinement. 
 
 If I undertook it, I should not be able to leave it for 
 anything better until it was successfully established 
 
 Mr. Pomeroy did not encourage it from the first. 
 He wants me to wait for an opportunity to go into 
 manufacturing, where, as he says, you can make more 
 in one year than you could there in five. Besides, 
 manufacturing would be more to my taste, better for 
 my health, give me more room for progress and promo- 
 tion. In the other place I should be confined to the 
 city, an office with $10,000 a year, but no hope of any- 
 thing beyond, and with the expenses of living in New 
 York we should not have a cent more at the end of the 
 year than at the beginning. Five thousand dollars in 
 Massachusetts, or even in Boston, would be worth more
 
 208 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 than twice that in New York. As Aspinwall says, it 
 would not be so much what we would care to do, as 
 what we should have to do in such a position. It was 
 very hard for me to give it up, for I am so impatient to 
 be at work, but I want to act prudently and be guided 
 by the advice of older heads. The thing was proposed 
 to my uncle, when it was found that Dix was going to 
 Europe, and McClellan would not be home in time, and 
 he thought it was worth my looking into. He did not 
 wish to influence me too much, but is glad that I have 
 decided not to take it, all things considered. I will just 
 copy what I wrote to . Mr. Entz, the gentleman with 
 whom I talked in New York. 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, I have decided reluctantly to de- 
 cline the presidency of the new Life-insurance and 
 Savings Company. It is not without mature delibera- 
 tion, and, for many reasons, sincere regret. One of the 
 principles of my life is, never to undertake anything 
 that I cannot give my whole heart and mind to. If I 
 should accept the office so flatteringly proposed, I should 
 wish to give my whole soul to achieving, with your val- 
 uable and necessary assistance, the success and reputa- 
 tion of the company. The business opportunities for 
 which I am waiting may offer at any day ; but had I 
 accepted, in. the mean time, this position of trust and 
 responsibility, and my friends have taken an interest in 
 the company on my account, I should feel bound in 
 honor to stand by it and them, at no matter what per- 
 sonal and pecuniary sacrifice. 
 
 "This decision is the harder of the two for me to 
 make at this time, unoccupied as I am, but it seems dic- 
 tated by prudence and the right motives. I do not wish
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 209 
 
 to appear insensible of the great honor which the associ- 
 ation of my name with this office does me, and I trust 
 that you will readily find a far abler and equally suitable 
 man for the place. 
 
 " The company will always naturally have my best 
 Wishes for its success, and you yourself the regard and 
 esteem of your obedient servant, etc." 
 
 So that is settled. I dare say many will think it 
 foolish to pass on such a position, but I expect that it 
 will prove for the best. The time to clam is at low 
 water, and many of the mills will have to " go under " 
 before long. Then will be the time to buy out and start 
 afresh. 
 
 I hope your wife is very well and the baby nourish- 
 ing. Ours is 16^. 
 
 I don't advise your coming up here, Frank, at this 
 time, unless you will come prepared to stay a week or 
 more. Let me hear from you. The presidency is no 
 secret. With nmch love, yours, FRANK. 
 
 PITTSFIELD, February, 27, 1867. 
 
 Every one is on the sick list, with colds, coughs, etc., 
 etc. 
 
 The baby is much better, but Agnes has a miserable 
 influenza, which is very prevalent here just now. The 
 others are in different stages of the same cheerful com- 
 plaint, so I advise your not coming just now. 
 
 Nothing new from "Washington in reference to the 
 collectorship. No appointment has yet been made, I be- 
 lieve. 
 
 I heard from Washington that the President was in- 
 14
 
 210 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 clined to appoint me, but the pressure of the Massachu- 
 setts delegation for Gooch, their old associate, for whom 
 they were committed (except Hooper), before my name 
 was suggested to them, embarrassed him, as he wishes to 
 conciliate the party. 
 
 I have no one representing me in Washington, and 
 under the circumstances should consider it rather re- 
 markable if I should be named, when so many other 
 candidates are in the field, working night and day. If 
 I should be nominated, I should try to fulfil the duties 
 of the place with credit ; if not, I shall be inclined to 
 feel that it is a fortunate escape from the many annoy- 
 ances and entanglements attendant upon the position. 
 I should think Clifford's name the best of all that are 
 mentioned in connection with the office. 
 
 I hope you and your wife are well. 
 
 With much love, yours ever, FRANK. 
 
 FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL, March 1, 1867 
 
 I sent you a very hurried and perhaps unintelligible 
 telegram yesterday afternoon as I left Pittsfield. The 
 cars were waiting for me, and I had to be very expedi- 
 tious. I wanted to say that I was going to Washing- 
 ton, as I had had a telegram saying I had better come 
 on, and if your father was disposed to do it, not being 
 otherwise committed, I should like a letter from him to 
 the President. If he had any aversion to writing to the 
 President, I would n't have him think of it for a moment. 
 This is something that is very distasteful to me, and I 
 said last week I would not go on to Washington for the 
 place ; but my friends who are interested urge it, and I 
 suppose that it is only right that I should do what I can.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 211 
 
 Please explain to your father the abruptness of my tele- 
 gram. I hope he will not write if he has the slightest 
 feeling about it. 
 
 I expected to go on last night, but a telegram inter- 
 cepted me on the way down, saying that Mr. George 
 Ashmun was in New York, and from what the letter 
 Baid, I thought I had better wait here and see him. 
 
 I shall go on to-night and shall try to come back 
 Monday. 
 
 It has been a wretched day raining like mad. 
 
 Much love to your wife. 
 
 Yours, in haste, FRANK. 
 
 ANNANDALE ON HUDSON, September 12, 1867. 
 I have had, these last two days, a strong desire to 
 write you, even if only a few lines. In any great joy I 
 should turn to you to share it, and so in this great grief, 
 the first and greatest I have ever known, I turn to you 
 for sympathy. I thought we had got accustomed to 
 death, we could lose comrades and brothers in war, and 
 be calm and stoical. But this is all new to me. I have 
 never lost a near relative before, one whom I knew well. 
 It depends not so much upon the relationship as upon 
 the relations that you have with another. My uncle was 
 nearer to me .... that is, I went to him more freely 
 for advice, .... and now I feel as if I had lost every- 
 thing. But what is my loss, beside that of my dear 
 aunt ? The relation between these two has always been 
 a peculiarly close one. Dependent each on the other, 
 they have been for thirty-six years like engaged lovers, 
 uever separated for a single day. She is utterly crushed 
 and stunned, but is doing more bravely than we could
 
 212 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 expect. It was so sudden. He has not been well for 
 many weeks, but only took his bed last Wednesday 
 week. I was with him on Friday and Saturday, when 
 he seemed to be better, and we thought he would rally. 
 "We had no idea the end was so near. When I left him 
 on Saturday I said, " I shall be back on Monday." And 
 he said with a voice as strong as ever, " You '11 find me 
 better on Monday." He failed, however, on Sunday, 
 and when I got here Monday he had not noticed any- 
 thing for hours. My coming seemed to rouse him, and 
 he knew me and tried to speak. I did not leave his side 
 from that time till three o'clock Tuesday morning, when 
 he quietly breathed his last. 
 
 The surgeons term the disease purpura, a derange- 
 ment of the blood-vessels of the bowels, what apo- 
 plexy is to the brain. He has been working too hard 
 this summer on some papers he has been drawing up for 
 the trustees of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad. They 
 all looked to him for the brain-work, and the 10th was 
 the day of the meeting. There was the paper before 
 them, finished, perfect in its character, and there was the 
 telegram announcing his death that morning. Mr. Alsop 
 says it was the saddest meeting that ever was attended. 
 Oh, Frank, how I wish you had known him ! That was 
 one of my dreams, to have you come here. He would 
 have loved you, Frank, and you would have enjoyed his 
 noble mind and lovely character. 
 
 We bury him on Friday, from the little chapel, and 
 then I fear for my poor aunt the worst will begin. 
 
 I hope you and yours are well. 
 
 With much love, ever yours, FRANK.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 213 
 
 Agnes and the baby are in Pittsfield. She will come 
 nere after the funeral. The baby will be a great diver- 
 sion for my aunt. She has been expecting to be in 
 Pittsfield on the 16th, the little thing's birthday, with 
 uncle. She has never seen it ; he was there last win- 
 ter. 
 
 The death of liis Uncle Edwin, who was child- 
 less, though married, seemed at first to place him 
 beyond the necessity of work. By his will, his 
 Uncle left his estate of Miramonte upon the 
 Hudson River to his wife for her life, and on her 
 death to his nephew, General William Francis 
 Bartlett, " in consideration of his gallantry and 
 devotion to his country in her late struggle for 
 self-preservation." He then gave one hundred 
 thousand dollars to his wife, and the residue to 
 two of his friends in trust to have the whole ap- 
 praised, to pay over one third to his wife, about 
 fifteen thousand dollars in legacies, and the res- 
 idue to General Bartlett. It is understood that 
 if General Bartlett had accepted the provisions 
 of this will, he would have come into immediate 
 possession of property then valued at close upon 
 two hundred thousand dollars. But he was young 
 and hopeful, and the country was prosperous, or 
 seemed so, and everything looked bright. He was 
 much attached to the wife of the man whom he 
 so tenderly loved, and he feared that she would 
 find the provision made for her inadequate to en-
 
 214 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 able her to live in the manner to which she was 
 accustomed. Moved by these considerations, he 
 executed a paper instructing the trustees to retain 
 the property left to him, and to pay the income to 
 his aunt. It was a generous act, an act to which 
 the much abused term of chivalrous may fairly be 
 applied, but in the sequel it proved most unfortu- 
 nate. Its consequences, however, are too much 
 matter of private and family concern to admit of 
 their relation here. 
 
 THE Box, December I, 1867. 
 
 I am glad that you know me well enough not to think 
 it strange when you do not hear from me for months. 
 You will believe that you are none the less in my 
 thoughts. I hope before very long we can have a real 
 good pow-wow under this little roof. We are getting 
 very comfortably settled, and were never so happy in 
 our lives. Some people say, " Why, won't you find it 
 very quiet out in Dalton ? " (They are of that class 
 which believes that Pittsfield and the like are places of 
 excitement.) How little they know of the comfort of 
 quiet and seclusion when one has seen a fair share of the 
 noise and bustle of the world. Every one who comes 
 out here thinks we are very cosily settled, and are sur- 
 prised to see what can be made of a common little 
 country cottage of a story and a half. .... 
 
 Yours ever, FRANK. 
 
 The year 1868 was for General Bartlett a 
 year of hard work, and, upon the whole, of de- 
 clining health. He remained at Dalton for some-
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 215 
 
 thing more than half the year, and then took a 
 house in Pittsfield. The change of residence was 
 owing to his acceptance of the position of treas- 
 urer and general manager of the Pomeroy Iron 
 Works, at West Stockbridge. As this town and 
 Dalton were on opposite sides of Pittsfield, it 
 was much better for him to make his home in 
 the last-mentioned place. He associated with 
 himself in the paper business Colonel Walter 
 Cutting, who married a sister of his wife, and 
 Colonel Cutting soon qualified himself to take 
 charge of the mill at Dalton. As for the manu- 
 facture of iron, he devoted himself to it with his 
 usual intelligence and energy, and with such 
 success at first, that at the end of May he thought 
 himself authorized to assert that the weekly 
 report of his furnace showed " the best week's 
 work yet made at that or any other furnace in 
 this country." 
 
 His application and his way of life were un- 
 favorable to his health. Besides the fatigue 
 incident to his work, he had a long way to go 
 and to return each day, and the constant per- 
 sonal supervision which he gave to his furnace ex- 
 posed him to trying alternations* of heat and cold. 
 In January, he had a bilious attack and symp- 
 toms of fever. These, however, yielded to qui- 
 nine and to alterative medicine, but in February 
 he continued indisposed. His trouble was then 
 thought to be owing to a want of bile. It was
 
 216 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 attended with extreme soreness in the bowels and 
 back, with a tendency to peritoneal inflamma- 
 tion. His physician thought there was still some 
 of the old ulceration left from his prison dysen- 
 tery, and that he ought to avoid exposure and fa- 
 tigue; but still he labored on, avoiding neither 
 exposure nor fatigue, and by the first of August 
 it was only too plain that he had worked too hard 
 all summer and that he needed a rest. He had 
 become very thin. Whenever he lost flesh, the 
 stump of his amputation was one of the first 
 places in which the loss appeared. This caused 
 his artificial leg to chafe, and was almost always 
 attended with pain in his lost foot. Of this the 
 world knew little. The absolute silence of the 
 man as to his own sufferings was a marked char- 
 acteristic of him, and his patient, cheerful endur- 
 ance was almost beyond belief. He went to 
 Philadelphia upon the occasion to which one of 
 the following letters refers, but it was already 
 becoming painfully apparent that he was not fit 
 for such efforts. The sword was wearing out the 
 sheath, and the war had worn the sheath very 
 thin. 
 
 THE HOMESTEAD, 
 
 PITTSFIELD, May 13, 1868. 
 
 I suppose you think I am dead, or else have forgotten 
 you entirely. I had time only to read your last kind 
 letter, but not to answer it. It was like a draught of 
 good, fresh, cool water, when one is tired and thirsty. 
 VTou can hardly imagine how busily I have been occu-
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 217 
 
 pied these last two months. I begin to see land at last, 
 but it may yet be two or three weeks before I can really 
 sit down and take a long breath. I never knew until 
 this year what Sunday is to the working man, as a day 
 of rest. Well, I don't need to explain my condition; 
 the simple fact that I have not written, even you, for 
 nearly two months, tells the whole story. I cannot tell 
 you on paper, with any satisfaction, about the iron busi- 
 ness. You will be glad to know that it promises to 
 be a very pleasant and profitable occupation. I have 
 bought Hoodie's interest in the paper mill, and taken in, 
 as partner in his place, Walter Cutting. He is taking 
 hold of the business with an earnestness and cleverness 
 which surprise me, and I feel great relief in that quar- 
 ter already. 
 
 He will live in Dal ton, and take charge of the busi- 
 ness, so that I can devote my time almost exclusively to 
 the furnace. I hope to get to Boston next week on 
 business, and will not come away without a " sit-down " 
 with you of an hour or two, when I can put you in pos- 
 session of all the facts. Meantime, believe that you and 
 yours are not out of my thoughts, even in the busiest 
 days, and that I am constantly looking forward a few 
 years when we shall be nearer each other. 
 
 Much love to your wife, and kiss the lovely baby. 
 Yours, in haste. FKANK. 
 
 PITTSFIELD, September 26, 1868. 
 
 I am just in receipt of your telegram of this date, 
 asking if I will " take command of Massachusetts dele- 
 gation to Soldiers' and Sailors' Convention at Philadel- 
 phia."
 
 218 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 I have replied, by telegraph, that " if you, and such 
 as you, are of the delegation, I will go ; but I prefer 
 a less conspicuous place." 
 
 I mean by "you, and such as you," men who have no 
 personal political ambition to gratify, or place to seek ; 
 men who would represent, as you do, the best blood of 
 Massachusetts, and who proved themselves worthy of 
 their origin on the field. 
 
 I am no politician. If I were to be classed at all, I 
 suppose it would be as a " War Democrat." And hav- 
 ing been a War Democrat during the war, now that the 
 war is over I most certainly desire peace. A peace that 
 we so steadily fought for ; a peace that we so fairly won. 
 That peace would seem now to be threatened, unless 
 the men who surrendered unconditionally at Appomat- 
 tox are allowed to dictate terms to the men who taught 
 them, through four bloody years, that the way of rebell- 
 ion is hard. I believe in the utmost liberality and 
 magnanimity towards a fallen foe, and I would extend 
 the hand right heartily in token of forgiveness and 
 friendship. 
 
 Such liberality characterized Grant's terms as General 
 of the Army, when rebellion laid down its arms. Such 
 magnanimity and charity will, I believe, mark his course 
 as Commander-in-chief. 
 
 Believing, as I do, in the soundness of heart of the 
 soldiers of Massachusetts, their devotion to truth, to 
 valor, and to justice, I shall in peace follow with them ; 
 or failing a chief more worthy, shall with pride lead 
 them. 1 am, sir, very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 W. F. BARTLETT.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 219 
 
 The downward tendency of his physical con- 
 dition became yet more marked in 1869. His 
 home and his occupations were the same, but his 
 fitness to enjoy the one and to do justice to the 
 other was often greatly diminished. He was con- 
 fined to his bed in February, and was excessively 
 weak. His wife wrote : " It would go to your 
 heart to see him. He looks nearly as emaciated 
 as when he came home from the Libby. No 
 doubt this illness has been coming on for many 
 months." By the second of March he had re- 
 covered so far as to drive out for ten minutes. 
 During the summer he was better, but in Sep- 
 tember he was again ill in bed, suffering from 
 congestion of the bowels, unaccompanied at this 
 time with ulceratiou. Indeed, it may be said 
 that he never recovered from the dysentery which 
 attacked him after his capture at the explosion of 
 the mine before Petersburg. Besides his physical 
 sufferings, his business at this time began to do 
 less well. There was little of pleasant incident 
 for him in this year, but he took great interest in 
 planning a house for himself, which he began to 
 build in November, near The Homestead. His 
 second child, a daughter, was born on the 17th 
 of February in this year. 
 
 As it had been in 1869, so it was in 1870, but 
 worse. He toiled unremittingly till he could toil 
 no longer, and at last it was decided that he 
 should take a short vacation and go to England.
 
 220 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 He announced his determination to his most con- 
 stant correspondent in the following letter : 
 
 May 22, 1870. 
 
 Don't suppose there is anything very wrong with me. 
 It is a sort of conspiracy between the doctor and the rest 
 of them to get me out of the country. I have no doubt 
 the rest, and voyage out and back, will do me much 
 good, although I do not yet see how I can possibly leave 
 my affairs. 
 
 A man's experience at such times, though not flatter- 
 ing to himself, is, that things get along just about as well 
 without him ; and I presume that will be the result with 
 me. Much love to you both. 
 
 Ever yours, FRANK. 
 
 His wife wrote, on the 22d of May : 
 
 It is an absolute necessity, as far as his health is con- 
 cerned, that he should have immediate and entire rest 
 for mind and body. He has not been well for two or 
 three months, and the constant and fatiguing business 
 trips of the last few weeks have broken him down sadly. 
 The doctor says he must stop now, else he may have a 
 return of that terrible illness. 
 
 He wrote from Queenstown on his arrival there 
 " that the continuance of the miserable pain and 
 Boreness has quite decided him to remain over till 
 Captain Hoodie's July trip." He had hoped 
 that the sea voyage out and back would be suffi- 
 cient, with no longer stay in England than the 
 interval between the ship's arrival and departure ; 
 but the bow had been bent too long.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 221 
 
 CKOXLEY HOUSE, July 4, 1870. 
 
 I was delighted to see your well known writing again, 
 and I thank you very much for taking the trouble to 
 write me such a nice long letter, telling me so much that 
 I wanted specially to hear. I have not written any 
 one but Agnes, giving myself over to complete lazi- 
 ness. I am doing very little in the way of going out 
 to dinners and theatres, etc., having cut it from the 
 first. 
 
 We are about twenty miles from London, in this old 
 place, which is very odd and thoroughly English. The 
 park of about thirteen acres is entirely enclosed in a 
 high masonry wall of some ten to fifteen feet outside, 
 but by raising the ground inside it seems only a few 
 feet high, viewed from the house, and that completely 
 covered with ivy, so that there is no sense of being 
 shut in. 
 
 I go to London for two or three days in the week, 
 spending the night, or coming down in time for dinner, 
 at half past seven, as I feel like it. Every afternoon 
 that I am down we drive four-in-hand through these 
 lovely English lanes and over the superb high roads. 
 Many parts of this country (Herts) remind me of the 
 Shenandoah valley, that beautiful rolling green, al- 
 though there are no hills as high as the Blue Ridge in 
 sight. It is a favorite spot about here for gentlemen's 
 places. The adjoining one to this is an estate of about 
 eight hundred acres, " Cassiobury Park," the Earl of 
 Essex's ; next to that is Lord Clarendon's, " The 
 Grove ; " near by, Lord Ebury's " Moor Park ; " and 
 next, Lord Chesham's " Latimer " and " Loud Water." 
 You can see that so many fine places, so near, with their
 
 222 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 hundreds of acres of park and wood, make the whole 
 country round here picturesque and beautiful. They 
 are suffering fearfully for want of rain, and will have 
 very slight crops of both hay and grain. 
 
 I believe that I am much better now than when I left 
 home, and I have no doubt whatever that the voyage 
 home will do me worlds of good, and that I shall reap 
 the benefit of this rest and change for the balance of the 
 year. For the first week or two after my arrival here 
 I did not mend a bit, and was quite disgusted, and re- 
 gretted that I had not gone back with Hoodie. But I 
 am gaming now, I feel sure. 
 
 There is one thing, Frank, you may be sure of, and 
 one of these days you will confirm my belief, that the 
 oftener you leave home for this side, the better satisfied 
 you will be that with all her faults America is the place 
 of all the world to live in. The more you see of other 
 countries, the better you will love your own. 
 
 I am glad to hear such good accounts of your wife 
 and the bairns. Mine have the whooping-cough, but I 
 am assured that it is the most favorable time of year, 
 and that otherwise they are in superb health, and for 
 this we cannot be too grateful. 
 
 My best love to your wife, dear Frank, and what you 
 don't give to her, keep for yourself. 
 
 From your devoted FRANK. 
 
 The good effects of his vacation did not last 
 long. In October his wife wrote : 
 
 He is very far from well The anxiety and 
 
 fatigue of those days and nights at the furnace have told 
 upon him seriously, and he is now suffering from much
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 223 
 
 soreness and lameness in the bowels He is not 
 
 strong enough or robust enough for active business, and aa 
 he throws all his energy into whatever he undertakes, 
 he frequently exhausts himself, and then feels that he 
 cannot take the time to repair the waste, and so when 
 he gets down, it is very hard for him to get up again, 
 and he is injuring his constitution every day, and is in 
 a fair way to entirely ruin his wonderful recuperative 
 powers. 
 
 At this time, neither the paper nor the iron 
 business was yielding any return, and mental 
 anxiety was added to physical weakness. " He is 
 greatly harassed in many ways, and of course all 
 this worry of mind increases his trouble of the 
 bowels He suffers a great deal, and some- 
 times longs for the rest of heaven." These words 
 again are from his wife. The days and nights at 
 the furnace to which she refers are those spent 
 there by her husband in the autumn of this year, 
 when the furnace had a " chill," and it required 
 excessive exertion and unremitting watchfulness 
 to keep it from going out of blast. 
 
 At the end of this year, he moved into his new 
 house, which was most satisfactory, and the 
 source of great enjoyment to himself and his 
 wife. - 
 
 It is not to be understood that these years were 
 all dark. To do so would be to go very far from 
 the truth. He was most happily married, and 
 though he suffered more than almost any one
 
 224 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 
 
 knew, he put a brave face upon it, and was always 
 firm and patient, and always, or almost always, 
 cheerful. He was most agreeably hospitable, in 
 a simple fashion, in his own home, and he found 
 time for frequent little visits to his family and 
 friends, and he always enjoyed and derived great 
 profit from such periods of relaxation. His pow- 
 ers of rallying were wonderful. Sometimes he 
 would come to a friend's house at the sea-shore 
 quite exhausted, silent, feeble, and without ap- 
 petite. At first he would sleep much, then he 
 would begin to take an interest in the table, and 
 presently he would seem like a new man, cheer- 
 ful in his serious way, enjoying his food and tak- 
 ing plenty of it, and ready to make the most of 
 every pleasure which his position afforded. 
 
 In the year 1871, he contended with increasing 
 ill-health. In March he was very far from well, 
 and he went to make a short visit to some friends 
 in Boston. While with them, he suffered from 
 his wearing pain, and had little appetite and lit- 
 tle strength, but he improved, as usual when he 
 gave himself the chance, and in April he was 
 much better in spirits and in health. He soon 
 fell off again, and had a serious illness in the 
 early summer, a touch of pleurisy with a con- 
 gestive chill. He went in August to Nantucket, 
 for two weeks, with his wife, and the sea air, sea 
 bathing, and rest set him up wonderfully, and he 
 was very well during the autumn. In December
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 225 
 
 he was ill again for some weeks with another at- 
 tack of pleurisy. 
 
 During this year he was very busy, whenever 
 he was able to work, and he began to take a zeal- 
 ous interest in the affairs of the church. In April, 
 he became senior warden of St. Stephen's Epis- 
 copal Church in Pittsfield, and in September he 
 was there confirmed by the bishop of the diocese. 
 
 On the 26th of November, in this year, his 
 first son was born. This event was a very great 
 joy to him. He was the only male representative 
 of his grandfather, in his generation, bearing the 
 name of Bartlett, and the qualities of the father's 
 nature were such as to make his personal desire 
 for a son very strong. The boy, a noble specimen 
 of babyhood, was christened Edwin, after his be- 
 loved arid lamented uncle. 
 
 The year 1872 was a full and busy year for 
 him, and a year in which he came more prom- 
 inently before the public than he had done since 
 the war ended. In January, he accepted a posi- 
 tion upon the personal staff of the Governor of 
 Massachusetts, with the rank of colonel. His 
 health was, as he described it, " so, so," which, 
 from him, meant that it was very poor. He pro- 
 posed to go, early in the year, to Virginia, to at- 
 tend to some business, but his condition became 
 so much worse that he was obliged to defer the 
 visit for several weeks. By the end of March he 
 had been for some time in Virginia, and he pro- 
 
 15
 
 226 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 nounced himself much the better for " roughing 
 it " there. 
 
 In the spring of 1872 an earnest effort was 
 making to secure a nomination for President of 
 the United States which should commend itself 
 to all the true friends of reform and good govern- 
 ment, irrespective of party lines. In this under- 
 taking General Bartlett took a very deep interest. 
 His sympathies were made known by the follow- 
 ing publication in the " Springfield Republican " 
 of April 10, 1872, and the following letters show 
 his feelings about the enterprise and its result : 
 
 A FIEST GUN. 
 
 GENERAL BARTLETT UPON THE PRESIDENTIAL CONVENTIONS 
 AND CANDIDATES. 
 
 To THE EDITOR OF THE REPUBLICAN, On iny re- 
 turn from Virginia, after a short absence, I read in the 
 columns of your Boston correspondence, that " General 
 Bartlett, who has been selected by some of the wise 
 men of the East, in consultation with canny Berkshire, 
 as the proper person to represent Western Massachu- 
 setts at Philadelphia, is more of a soldier than politician, 
 but is counted on to go for Grant as a soldier." 
 
 As I had, sometime previous to the date of the above 
 article, declined to allow the use of my name, I cannot 
 suppose that the selection would be approved ; but it 
 seems to me only the part of candor to declare, that 
 while I am nattered to learn that my name has been 
 considered in connection with so distinguished a posi- 
 tion, I am not " to be counted on to go for Grant, " il
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 227 
 
 that means, as I fear it does, blind allegiance to the 
 group of politicians under whose control General Grant 
 has unfortunately placed himself, and whose solicitude 
 seems to be greater for the Republican party than for 
 the welfare of the country. 
 
 But I am waiting, as I know thousands of other good 
 soldiers, and good Republicans now " counted on to go 
 for Grant," and good men of all parties, are waiting, for 
 the nomination of a man whose administration shall be 
 above suspicion, not above investigation ; who cannot be 
 used or abused by any set of selfish politicians of any 
 party; who will illustrate the true meaning of "civil 
 service reform " by benefiting and enriching the nation 
 and not the individual ; whose ability as a statesman is 
 balanced by his integrity as a man ; whose great services 
 to his country in the darkest days of our civil war, when 
 single-handed at the English Court he stemmed the tide 
 of foreign intervention with skill and fearlessness unsur- 
 passed, can never be forgotten by those to whom the 
 honor of their country is as dear as her success; whose 
 name is Charles Francis Adams, and whom, if the Cin- 
 cinnati Convention shall have the wisdom to nominate, 
 the people will have the independence to elect. 
 
 "W. F. BARTLETT. 
 
 PrrrsFiELD, April 21, 1872. 
 
 I have about decided that it is my duty to go to Cin- 
 cinnati. I am urged to do it by men who hope for Mr. 
 Adams's nomination there ; and I do not think the del- 
 egation of this State will be as strong as it should be, 
 in case there is any great difference of opinion as to the 
 strength of the three or four probable candidates. Mr
 
 228 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 Bowles especially urges my going. He says that my 
 letter has given me a position and influence which can 
 be of great use to Mr. Adams in the convention. I be- 
 lieve there is a strong Sumner feeling among certain 
 prominent men who are going there, but I do not believe 
 it will have any strength there after the first. 
 
 Of course I shall be hopeful for the success of the 
 movement, if it shall see fit to put Mr. Trumbull at the 
 head of the ticket, and shall support it, but I confess 
 my heart will not be in it, as it will if Mr. Adams is the 
 
 man. I have been with all the afternoon, and 
 
 I can assure you, he has a very strong belief in the 
 strength of the Cincinnati movement, and said, among 
 other things, that there was very little doubt of Illinois 
 going against Grant if Trumbull was on the ticket. . . . 
 He believes, that if the Cincinnati Convention shall act 
 with wisdom and nominate Trumbull, or Adams, the 
 Philadelphia Convention will be obliged to accept it. 
 
 This you must not repeat as from Mr. , but you 
 
 " have the information direct from high authority." 
 
 Mr. 's chief fear is, doing any thing that may 
 
 give back power to the Democratic party. I tell him 
 that the very way to prevent that is for him and men 
 like him, who have taken an independent stand, to go in 
 and control this, and outnumber the liberal Democrats 
 who will join it. He sees it, and thinks the events of 
 the next few weeks will decide the thing. 
 
 I need not tell you how utterly distasteful the idea of 
 going to Cincinnati, both physically and morally, is to 
 me. I can neither afford the time, nor the cost, nor the 
 fatigue ; but it is a sacrifice of all, which I cannot refuse, 
 feeling as I do about the nomination and possible elec-
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 229 
 
 tion of Mr. Adams. And if by any chance I should 
 have an opportunity to assist in bringing it about, I 
 ehould be too proud for anything. 
 
 Why, Frank, just think of having a gentleman as well 
 as a statesman for President again ! I hope you will 
 talk Cincinnati among the men whom we know, espe- 
 cially soldiers, who would, in case of Adams's nomina- 
 tion, come out in a public indorsement of it. Why 
 won't you sound Sam. Quincy, who is in the House of 
 Representatives, and Codrnan ditto, and Cogswell, if you 
 choose, George Barnard, Osborne, and the like ? These 
 men I name, as they have had some experience and 
 prominence in affairs, and could organize such a move- 
 ment. 
 
 General Schouler has written me enthusiastically, and 
 Will go to Cincinnati if he can afford it. He was a 
 delegate to the late Worcester Convention, and one of 
 the vice-presidents. General Dale is heartily in favor 
 of it. The chairman of the Republican Soldiers' and 
 Sailors' Committee of New York State, H. A. Barnum, 
 has written me that they have had a meeting of repre- 
 sentative soldiers of the different States at Washington, 
 and decided to issue a circular letter preliminary to call- 
 ing a general meeting of soldiers to "protest against 
 the further progress of the alarming disintegration of 
 the Republican party which has taken place under the 
 administration of General Grant," " and formally to 
 call on the Philadelphia Convention to nominate a can- 
 didate other than Grant, and one who can unite the 
 party, etc." 
 
 He tells me he finds the anti-Grant feeling very 
 strong among soldiers. That has been my experience
 
 230 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 too. I wish I could see John or Charley Adams for a 
 half hour. They might have some views as to the best 
 course to be pursued at Cincinnati, which would be valu- 
 able. If you see either of them and they think it de 
 sirable, I would go down for a day this week on receipt 
 of a telegram from you. Don't suggest this if you 
 think it would be, or seem to be, officious. 
 
 I hope you will write me this week, Frank. You 
 know how much I depend on you for counsel and sym- 
 pathy. Ever yours, FRANK. 
 
 PITTSFIELD, April 27, 1872. 
 
 I am just off for Cincinnati, spending Sunday in 
 Rochester with friends, and so break up the journey. I 
 shall be with friends in Cincinnati, so that my personal 
 comfort there will be greater than if I had to take my 
 chance at the hotels. 
 
 I have your letter, and am not discouraged entirely by 
 it. I am more hopeful than you that Air. Adams will 
 be nominated, and if that is done, then the responsibility 
 of his non-election must rest on the men in this country 
 who, believing him to be the best man, will, under party 
 dictation, vote for some one else. My feeling about the 
 Cincinnati movement is simply this : If men are going 
 there to attempt to achieve their own ambitions by 
 pushing and bargaining for this or that particular man, 
 because he will serve their ends or carry out their spe- 
 cial theory, the sooner it is scattered to the winds the 
 better. 
 
 Mr. Adams has, as you very well know, no personal 
 following, no " claque." He is not popular with politi- 
 cians, and he can only be nominated by just such a
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 231 
 
 rising above personal considerations, and an honest 
 desire for better things, as I hope will show itself at 
 Cincinnati. If not, I shall come home very much 
 disappointed; but I cannot think I shall ever feel any 
 disgrace in having joined a forlorn hope for an assault 
 on a corrupt party management, even if the assault 
 should be repulsed; or that I shall lower myself in my 
 own or your estimation by advocating the nomination of 
 such a man as Mr. Adams against anybody. 
 
 "With much love, yours hastily. FRANK. 
 
 PITTSFIELD, May 20, 1872. 
 
 (Do you recognize the writing as seen in your youth ?) 
 I leave to-morrow for New York, whence I returned 
 Friday night, and expect now to go on from there to 
 Boston, arriving probably Thursday morning. I will 
 look in at your office during the forenoon, and tell you 
 more of my plans. I shall, I think, stay over Sunday 
 and Monday, when we are to be on duty I suppose. I 
 have been constantly busy since I returned from Cincin- 
 nati, where I was delayed several days by illness, par- 
 tially brought on, I dare say, by a "damned defeat" that 
 " was made " there at that time, of which more anon. 
 In haste. Ever yours, FRANK. 
 
 Near the end of May, the furnace of the Pome- 
 roy Iron Works, at West Stockbridge, was de- 
 stroyed by fire. It was a heavy blow to Bartlett, 
 as he was both superintendent and personally a 
 large owner in the property. But he was not 
 given to lamentation, and it is in these words that 
 he refers to the event : " With my disheartening
 
 232 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 disappointment at Cincinnati on the 3d, and this 
 blow on the 27th, I don't think I like this month 
 very much." 
 
 From the middle of this year he was much in 
 Richmond, where he proposed to make his home, 
 and near which was the property of the Pow- 
 hatan Iron Company, of which he was to be the 
 treasurer and manager. This property was owned 
 by northern men and supplied with northern 
 capital, and he had high hopes of its proving a 
 gainful enterprise, and he expected at the same 
 time to profit personally from a change of resi- 
 dence to a southern State. He worked very hard 
 getting things to rights at the Virginia furnace, 
 and also in rebuilding the furnace at West Stock- 
 bridge, which latter was lighted on the 14th of 
 October. 
 
 On the 24th of September, the Soldiers' Mon- 
 ument at Pittsfield was dedicated, with appropri- 
 ate ceremonies, and in the presence of a great 
 concourse of people. General Bartlett took a 
 great interest in this monument, and he was the 
 chairman of the committee on procuring it. He 
 wrote the dedicatory inscription which is cut upon 
 the base, and which reads as follows : 
 
 On the west face,
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 233 
 
 FOB THE DEAD 
 A TRIBUTE. 
 
 FOB THE LIVING 
 A MEMOBT. 
 
 FOB POSTEBITY 
 
 AN EMBLEM 
 
 OF LOYALTY TO THE FLAG 
 OF THEIB COUNTBY. 
 
 On the east face, 
 
 WITH GBATEFUL BECOGNITION 
 OF THE SERVICES OF ATT. HEB 
 
 SONS 
 
 WHO UPHELD THE HONOB AND 
 INTEGBITY OF OUB BELOVED 
 
 COUNTBY 
 
 IN HEB HOUB OF PEBIL, 
 THE TOWN OF 
 
 PITTSFIELD 
 
 EBECTS THIS MONUMENT IN 
 
 LOVING MEMOBY OF THOSE 
 
 WHO DDUD THAT THE 
 
 NATION 
 MIGHT LIVE.
 
 234 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 In the speech in which General Bartlett form- 
 ally delivered the monument to the town, he 
 spoke in terms of high praise of the artist, and 
 then said : 
 
 He has taken for his subject, not the private soldier 
 nor the commissioned officer, but a greater hero than 
 either, the man on whom so often hung the fate of 
 battle, the man on whose self-forgetting bravery and un- 
 flinching firmness the steadiness of the whole line de- 
 pended, the man who bore the colors. And, comrades, 
 was there ever any flag half so well worth fighting for, 
 half so well worth dying for, as the flag we followed ? 
 As I look upon your faces that I have seen amid the 
 emoke of battle, and remember how you closed up the 
 gaps made by the fall of those whom we honor to-day, I 
 am conscious that to you also belongs a share of the 
 honor, but with this difference : their fame was achieved 
 and secured by dying heroic deaths, yours must yet 
 be maintained and preserved by living blameless lives. 
 
 The climate of Richmond seemed to fulfill the 
 expectations of the man who so much needed 
 every help that climate could give him, and he 
 wrote there, at the beginning of October, that he 
 believed himself to be better in health than for 
 many months. At the end of the same month he 
 established his family there, in one of the best 
 houses in the city. The people of Richmond 
 made an exception in his favor to their then usual 
 treatment of northerners, and before his family 
 had been there a month, they found themselves
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 235 
 
 u overwhelmed with kindness, cordiality, and hos- 
 pitality from the very nicest people here." His 
 wife writes of the following period : 
 
 Frank was very hopeful and very busy that winter 
 and spring, getting things ready to start the furnace, 
 making excursions up the canal into the ore districts, 
 going down into mines, and doing things a whole man 
 would have shrunk from, making contracts for ore, 
 getting leases of some very valuable beds, and in every 
 way busy, and working with bright hopes and a hearty 
 faith that all was going well and that the Virginia en- 
 terprise would be a complete success He was 
 
 pretty well that year, for him. Hardly a week ever 
 passed without his suffering in one way or another. He 
 was better than in 1871, when he had that dreadful 
 congestive chill, and also better than in 1872, when he 
 had the severe attack of pleurisy which laid him up for 
 so long a time. 
 
 He passed most of the year 1873 in Richmond. 
 His family went to their Pittsfield home at the 
 end of May and returned in October. He was 
 sometimes with them and sometimes on the water 
 during the summer, but he was more or less at 
 and near Richmond and at the ore-beds during 
 the whole time of their absence. The summer 
 was darkened for him by the death of his sister 
 Edith, his youngest sister and "his pet and 
 shadow." 
 
 The following letters belong to the first year of 
 his stay in Richmond :
 
 236 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 LYNCHBURG, VA., 
 Wednesday, March 13, 1872. 
 
 MT DEAR AGNES, I have just sent you a telegram, 
 to tell you that we have returned safely from our 
 dreaded Echols expedition up into the mountains, and 
 got along much better than we feared 
 
 We got down from Echols's this A. M. about eight, 
 and are going down the canal on our beloved packet to- 
 night at six, to a place twenty miles or so below here. 
 "We have traveled on this same old packet so long now 
 that we feel as if she was our private yacht, and the 
 captain and steward and all hands seem to think so too, 
 for they don't often have anybody, I fancy, that gives 
 them anything, and they would, any of them, jump over- 
 board for us, if we should ask them. We get down to 
 this place about twelve to-night, and expect to find 
 lodgings in a store on the canal till morning, when we 
 shall ride out to the ore-bed, about two and a half miles 
 from the river. 
 
 We expect to get back to the canal and take the up 
 boat, which comes along about one o'clock at night, and 
 gets us back here Friday morning in time to take the 
 Washington train. If we get our clothes off Friday 
 night, it will be the first but one for a week. I don't 
 intend to be clean again till I get into a bath tub at 
 Washington. You feel just as well if you only get 
 used to it. 
 
 You want to know about the Echols trip. Well, we 
 set sail in our steam yacht, three-horse-power engines; 
 ihe steam is in the cabin, where the stove is kept at a 
 very even temperature, red hot all the time. If one of 
 the darkies sees the least sign of black about it, he
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 237 
 
 "goes for it" like mad, and soon restores it to its proper 
 condition. The "bridal state room," which I have al- 
 ready described, is pushed to the end of the cabin, as far 
 as possible from this beast of a stove, but my feet come 
 within about three feet of it then, and I dreamt last 
 night that I was John Rogers and you had two small 
 children and one at the breast. (Kniffin suggests that 
 I had better remark here that we brought back most of 
 the whiskey which we took with us, so that you need 
 not suppose my imagination has anything to do with the 
 above statement.) Well, to resume, we steamed out of 
 the harbor of this magnificent city in a blinding snow- 
 storm, at half past five Monday evening, and crossed 
 the bar at six. (You have to cross the bar to get to the 
 supper table, and our cook always gets us up something 
 extra when we are on board.) I tell you it looked 
 rather dusty when we thought of getting out on to the 
 canal bank at two o'clock in the morning, but we turned 
 in at the usual hour, and I slept the sleep of youth and 
 innocence on my downy table, wrapped in my cloak, till 
 Clay called us, and told us that Captain Echols was 
 coming on board. This was down at the junction of the 
 James and North rivers, where we meet the other 
 boat going up to Buckannon, while our boat keeps on 
 the North River up to Lexington. It seems that Cap- 
 tain Echols and his son had come down to the mouth of 
 the river to take the boat for Buckannon, and had sent 
 their horses on to meet them there in the morning. It 
 being such a rough night, they preferred the canal boat 
 to riding all night, and hearing from Clay (the steward) 
 that there were two gentlemen on our boat going to their 
 place, they turned back, and came on board to go back.
 
 238 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 
 
 Well, I felt relieved to think that we should arrive at 
 the man's house with him, but distressed to feel that we 
 had upset his plans, after being up all night. However, 
 he did n't seem to think anything of it, and so I com- 
 forted myself with the other view of it. 
 
 He and his son looked exactly like a couple of real 
 rebel officers, gray overcoats, felt slouch hats, boots, and 
 all. We landed at half past two, and, as they had a lan- 
 tern, we picked our way up to the house very comfort- 
 ably, although it was still snowing. We were shown 
 into the parlor, and a corn-cob fire was soon started, 
 and we found that they did n't feel very badly at being 
 back there instead of on the road. We lay down for a 
 while, I down stairs and Kniffin up aloft somewhere, 
 till about seven or eight, when I found a young darky 
 (Henry Clay by name) mousing round my leg, trying to 
 get my boots, I think. I gave him ten cents to let me 
 alone, and in a minute there were several just like him 
 that wanted to let me alone too. We had breakfast 
 down cellar with the family, an aunt (Mrs. Echols 
 died about two years ago), two daughters, and three 
 small children, mates of the aforesaid nigs. 
 
 After breakfast, we mounted our horses and started 
 for the mountain. It had stopped snowing and was 
 clearing away. We saw the ore bed, and the whole 
 property. There has been a pile of money spent on it, 
 and there is no doubt a large deposit of ore, and it is of 
 a very superior quality 
 
 We returned to the Echols mansion about two, and 
 dined, and from that time till half past eleven, when the 
 boat came down, we passed in the parlor. Miss Echola 
 Bang for us and played very sweetly, with the regular
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 239 
 
 southern accent ; but it was a treat and rest to hear 
 music so far out of the world as that seemed to be. 
 She sang several very pretty songs. They were alto- 
 gether cordial and hospitable, and he is a very excellent 
 man. 
 
 Our yacht arrived at half past eleven and took us on 
 board, and we came down through the Blue Ridge Gap. 
 It was a beautiful, bright starlight night, and as we stole 
 noiselessly along at the base of those perpendicular piles 
 of rock, going, apparently, straight into the side of the 
 mountain, till just at the last moment a sudden turn 
 showed a pass which the river had made for us, we 
 regretted that it was not daylight that we might see the 
 views. I stayed up for an hour or more, till we passed 
 the "Balcony Falls," and then was laid on the table. 
 We arrived here at eight this morning, and our yacht 
 swings gracefully at her moorings, waiting till six this 
 evening, when we start down the canal again for River- 
 ville, Amherst County. It seems to be impossible to go 
 any where, or come away from any place, on this canal, 
 except between the hours of midnight and two A. M 
 
 I went into a bank here, The First National, to get 
 a New York draft for $100 cashed, and I really believe 
 it nearly broke them. They may have had a little cur- 
 rency left, but the last five dollars they had to make 
 out with small bills and fractional currency 
 
 Now, do be good, and get well, or I won't come home. 
 The canal was skimmed over with ice when I went on 
 deck this morning, and as it was before sunrise, I had a 
 <good appetite for breakfast at seven 
 
 Love to chicks. I hope little Agnes is all right 
 again. Ever your own loving FRANK.
 
 240 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLL TT. 
 
 I am living principally on hog and hominy three 
 times a day. 
 
 BALCONY FALLS, September 15, 1872. 
 Sunday Eve. 
 
 MY DARLING AGNES, As poor a man as I am, I 
 would have given a hundred dollars if you could have 
 been with me to-day. I got here with Captain Echols 
 Saturday morning, about three, and yesterday did a full 
 day's work. Explored the mine, going in over three 
 hundred feet, to the very end. It was pretty " pokerish," 
 so long since any one had been in there, and they put me 
 on the car and pushed me ahead of them, as it was too 
 wet for me to walk. I thought of snakes and bears and 
 all sorts of things which I did n't see, but was glad when 
 I got through and turned to go out. I caught quite a 
 cold on the packet that night, and added to it in this 
 tunnel, I think, but I had to do it. I made four separate 
 contracts with various parties, all very satisfactory, and 
 settled all my business last eve. 
 
 This morning Captain Echols and I started on horse- 
 back for the Natural Bridge. About sixteen miles there 
 and back. Well, if I live, you have got to come up 
 here with me this fall, and go over there. I was com- 
 pletely astonished. I had seen the Natural Bridge in 
 my geographies as one of the seven wonders of the 
 world, but I did n't ever take much stock in it, and the 
 surprise was all the greater because I have seen photo- 
 graphs which I had supposed did it justice. After going 
 round on top of the bridge, where I picked a piece of 
 arbor vita from a tree that hangs directly over the abyss, 
 for you, we went round and climbed down below and 
 ame up under the arch, which I can liken to nothing
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 241 
 
 else than the stupendous aisle of one of God's great cathe- 
 drals. The tree which stands in the bed of the brook and 
 which looked like a currant bush from the top, we sat 
 down under and ate our " snack," and found it stood 
 ninety feet high over our heads and was a foot and a half 
 through at the base. While we were sitting there, we 
 neard the sound of many voices singing a hymn and ap- 
 proaching, and as there wound down the side of the 
 ravine, in procession, a party of colored people to a bap- 
 tism in the pool below, the effect of a cathedral that had 
 already impressed me was very much heightened. We 
 witnessed the service, and after cutting a little cross on 
 the tree to show you as my mark when I take you there, 
 we went up and found our horses, and turned towards 
 home. The scenery all about here is gorgeous. 
 
 I feel a little tired to-night from riding so far, but I 
 shall sleep all the better when I get on the boat, which 
 I expect along about eleven 
 
 The contrast between the weather to-day and last 
 Sunday is immense. There never was a more perfect 
 day than this has been. It is right cool to-night, but 
 I am warmly dressed. Captain Echols is a very nice 
 man, just as good and conscientious as he can be. I 
 couldn't have anybody else here in whom I could place 
 so much confidence. They are all so happy to have him 
 home again. He has been away nearly six months 
 from all these young children, without a mother, and 
 they are very fond of him, especially one of the older 
 girls, who is a cripple and invalid. And to have him 
 home to stay, with a position that pays him even more 
 khan he was getting out on the railroad, makes them 
 16
 
 242 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 all very happy, and me too, to be the means of do- 
 ing it 
 
 I was sorry to see the death of the poor old Bishop. 
 I wonder who we shall have in his place. 
 
 My love to the Storrs, and to Mrs. Newton, if you see 
 her. I thought of her to-day, for I think she has been 
 to the bridge. 
 
 How is Walter getting on ? You have n't said any- 
 thing about him, or the mill. My reports from the 
 furnace are very satisfactory 
 
 It seems as if I had a good deal to do to finish up in 
 Richmond and New York, and be with you before an- 
 other Sunday comes round, but I hope to do it. I did 
 want you so to-day, though, you darling, because you 
 would so appreciate and enjoy it. Captain Echols says, 
 we'll have a picnic over there when you come. 
 
 Love to all. Is n't it little Agnes's birthday this 
 week ? My best love and kisses to the dear little 
 woman. What a young lady she is getting to be ! 
 
 Good-by, my sweet. Your own, 
 
 FRANK. 
 
 FlSHEBSVILLE, VA., June 8, 1873. 
 
 Sunday Eve. 
 
 DARLING AGNES, I can hardly believe that it was 
 only a week ago that I was with you in Pittsfield. I 
 have traveled so many long miles, and been in so many 
 places, and done so much, that it seems a month since I 
 left you. I wonder if you wore your seal-skin to church 
 to-day, for I wore my overcoat, and have been sitting by 
 a fire this evening. 
 
 It has been a lovely day, and cooler than we shall be
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 243 
 
 apt to have many of. I came down here from Stanton 
 yesterday morning, hoping to get through and take the 
 night train to Richmond ; but I found it could not be 
 done. So I took up my abode here with the Schmuk- 
 ers, and have had a very quiet day of rest, after a sat- 
 isfactory day at the ore bank yesterday. 
 
 The Gibson Bank is at last mine, and it puts us out 
 of all uncertainty as regards ore. What I have accom- 
 plished this last week is worth fifty thousand dollars to 
 the Powhatan Co. I can now be a seller of ore instead 
 of a buyer. No end of people have tried before to get 
 control of this bank, and failed, and since I have been 
 in negotiation for it people have made bigger offers than 
 mine. 
 
 It has taken diplomacy and money. I have bought 
 up and paid off the various claims and liens, and now 
 have absolute possession of the place for ten years. 
 I feel much happier than I did when I started up here, 
 and hope to find everything going right when I get back 
 to-morrow. I don't feel the same pleasure, though, in 
 getting back to Richmond now, to that empty house. 
 I shall find several letters from you, and hope you and 
 the dear children are all well, and that you can write me 
 you are feeling ever so much better, and getting fat. 
 
 This morning I went with George Schmuker to 
 church, and I wish I could begin to describe to you the 
 experience ; but it would take too long, writing by this 
 single tallow candle, and I must go to bed, as we break- 
 fost early every morning but Sundays. Last night I 
 asked Mr. Schmuker what time they would breakfast 
 this morning, thinking I would have a good sleep, and 
 Ue said, " Oh, we don't breakfast till late Sundays not
 
 244 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 before six o'clock, anyway." So I judge from that I 
 shall be turned out at four to-morrow and breakfast 
 about five, perhaps. Well, the church is about two miles 
 from here, in the midst of a beautiful oak grove of fine 
 old trees. It is built of brick and is a fine building, 
 about as large as our St. Stephen's, though not so high. 
 It was a new building about twenty years ago, on the site 
 of the former church, which was one of the oldest in 
 this neighborhood about one hundred and forty years 
 old. The old graves in the cemetery about it testify its 
 age. It is called, " Tinkling Spring Church," from a 
 beautiful spring which drips over a shelving rock near 
 by, and a bucket of the cool water stands in the porch 
 with a tin dipper, which is in constant use. 
 
 They tell a story of the original parson who estab- 
 lished the church in those early times, that he did not 
 like this location, but wanted it nearer to where Stanton 
 now is ; but the advantage of the spring carried the 
 majority of the parish against him, and he obstinately 
 declared that no water from that spring should ever 
 tinkle down his throat, and he kept his word. 
 
 When we came to the grove, every tree had one or 
 more horses tied to it, some with saddles and side-sad- 
 dles and pillions, others in carriages arid wagons. Out- 
 side in front of the porch were assembled the men, talk- 
 ing, smoking (buying and selling on the sly), discussing 
 the crops, the weather, and after our arrival, evidently, 
 me. I was introduced to all the worthies, but the best 
 of them have a broken down, degraded look. (I be- 
 lieve eating hot bread and owning niggers will destroy 
 any race.) After a while, on a signal from a bell, we 
 went inside, where I found the pews already well filled
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 245 
 
 with women and children. I found a seat near the 
 door, and the services began with a voluntary from the 
 choir, accompanied by a melodeon. They sang two 
 verses all right. When singing the third, some well 
 dressed young man came in, and they all began to look 
 at him, lost their places, and completely broke down and 
 stopped, recovered on the fourth verse, and got through 
 the other three all right. Then a long Methodist look- 
 ing man made a short prayer and gave out a hymn 
 "omitting the sixth verse," and read it all through. 
 Then he read from the Bible, and explained the verses 
 as he went along, by transposing them into his own 
 language, which of course was not as good, or as clear 
 and simple as the original. Meantime, if you could 
 have heard the noise, you would wonder how the man 
 could go on at all. Babies of all ages, from those born 
 this morning up to five and six, were talking, singing, 
 eating, and crying, and very little attention seemed to 
 be paid to stopping them. After he began his sermon, 
 one child, especially, kept up a howl and talking, and it 
 was impossible for me, near the door, to hear the parson, 
 who spoke rather low. 
 
 The children made so much noise you couldn't sleep, 
 and the minister so little that you couldn't keep awake, 
 BO that between the two you were thoroughly uncom- 
 fortable. He was too much for the babies, though, and 
 
 * O ' 
 
 after three quarters of an hour he had them pretty well 
 exhausted, and they gradually fell off asleep or went out 
 to play, and he went on untiringly for half an hour 
 longer. 
 
 One hour and a quarter, by my watch, was the length 
 of his sermon, and not a thought or an idea in the barrel
 
 246 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 
 
 of words. Then another long hymn, and two hours 
 and ten minutes from the time we went in, I crawled out 
 into the fresh air under the green trees, a worn out 
 sinner, hoping against common sense that these poor 
 people had found some grain of comfort or good in all 
 this " meeting time " which seemed to be the only break 
 in the monotony of their lives. It made me very sad 
 for them, but I was very cross with the minister, and he 
 is the principal of a young ladies' school at Stanton ! 
 After the benediction, the women linger in the church 
 to talk, and the men assemble outside and resume the 
 operations interrupted by the bell. After a while they 
 begin to get away, and you see a man with two children 
 behind him on horseback, or a woman. 
 
 And some of these people come ten miles. God help 
 them, how little they know of life and comfort ! I sup- 
 pose, though, they are contented in their ignorance, 
 knowing nothing better. I declined an invitation to the 
 "preaching" here in the village this afternoon, and took 
 a nap instead. 
 
 I did n't mean to spin such a long yarn, but as you 
 don't often get long letters from me in these weary 
 working days, you will not mind it, will you, old pre- 
 cious ? I go down to-morrow and shall be in Rich- 
 mond, D. V., at five p. M. I hope it will keep cool. 
 
 Love to all. Your own, FRANK. 
 
 513 GRACE STREET, RICHMOND, VA., 
 
 March 24, 1873. 
 
 MY DEAR MR. SUMNER, I beg you will pardon the 
 intrusion of my expressing to you the disgust I feel for 
 flie creatures who have refused to remove from poor
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 247 
 
 old Massachusetts' record the disgrace which they and 
 their predecessors involved her in. I was asked to 
 head a petition in support of Mr. Whittier's, which I 
 did immediately, because to have refused would have 
 been misinterpreted. But it was only on the ground of 
 helping to remove the stain from Massachusetts that I 
 could bring myself to sue as petitioner to the grave and 
 reverend seignors of the present great and general court. 
 And I expressed myself to this effect, and more, in my 
 letter accompanying. 
 
 The fact is, my dear Mr. Sumner, these people cannot 
 comprehend nor appreciate the higher, truer patriotism, 
 which is embodied in your resolution. And many in- 
 telligent men, from whom you would expect better 
 things, are not yet ready or willing to think of this 
 country as a reunited one. They are not yet really good 
 Union men. They are not Americans, they are North- 
 erners. 
 
 But this is a view which I have not seen mentioned 
 in the varied discussions on the subject of the names of 
 battles on the United States flags, viz., ought it to be 
 any more distasteful for an ex-confederate to march un- 
 der a flag bearing the name of Gettysburg, than for an 
 ex-federal soldier to march under the name of Fredericks- 
 burg or Bull Run, or half the names on our flags which 
 mark defeats, not victories ? If we had nothing but the 
 names of victories on our colors, then to efface them 
 would be noble, but as it is, where we efface a victory 
 we shall also wipe out a defeat ; where is the magnanim- 
 ity in that ? 
 
 I offer this suggestion, having little doubt, however, 
 that it has already occurred to you.
 
 248 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 I aTi very glad to hear reports of your improving 
 health, which I sincerely trust may be completely re- 
 stored by rest, and remain 
 
 Very faithfully yours, W. F. BARTLETT. 
 
 WASHINGTON, May 11, 1873. 
 
 MY DEAR GENERAL, Accept, if you please, the 
 apologies of an invalid for this too tardy acknowledg- 
 ment of your kind letter, dated as long ago as March 
 24th. 
 
 And please also to accept my sincere thanks. I do 
 not doubt that when the question of the flags is under- 
 stood, there will be no difference of opinion. It will be 
 hard for good people, and especially military men, to 
 dissent from the authority of Generals Scott, Anderson, 
 and Thomas, all of whom approved my resolution when 
 offered in 1862. It will be hard, also, to dissent from 
 the example of history. No civilized nation preserves 
 on its flags the names of battles between fellow-citizens. 
 
 The memory of such bloody discord must be con- 
 signed to history, and not be flaunted before our eyes. 
 England, France, Prussia, Italy, and Austria have fol- 
 lowed this commandment of patriotism and civilization' 
 
 As your letter is dated at Richmond I shall address 
 you there, although I fear you have left that place. 
 
 Believe me, dear General, faithfully yours, 
 
 CHARLES SUMNER. 
 
 In 1874 he still made his home in Richmond. 
 At the beginning of the year he felt encouraged 
 as to the general aspect of business. In Feb- 
 ruary, upon one of his Virginia journeys, he
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 249 
 
 caught a cold, which ended in a cough which 
 never afterwards left him. It is probable, how- 
 ever, that his constitution had by this time be- 
 come so weakened that causes slight in appear- 
 ance were sufficient to produce grave results. In 
 March of this year, twin boys were born to him. 
 In June he had a week's illness, but he was much 
 strengthened by a visit which he made to a 
 friend's house on the Beverly shore immediately 
 after. It was well for him to gather strength, 
 for one of the eventful days of his life was at 
 hand. On the 23d of June, the dedication of 
 Memorial Hall, the great building erected to com- 
 memorate the services in the war of the sons of 
 Harvard College, took place at Cambridge. The 
 next day was Commencement Day, and the com- 
 mencement dinner was served, for the first time, 
 in Memorial Hall. General Bartlett was the chief 
 marshal of the day. Cambridge commencement 
 dinners are crowded affairs, as a rule, but this 
 day the interest excited by the new building 
 drew together an unusual throng. After several 
 speeches of the customary degree of merit and 
 interest had been made, the president called upon 
 General Bartlett. A midsummer's day at Cam- 
 bridge is apt to be hot, and this day was not an 
 exception. By the time the dignitaries have made 
 tfieir speeches, the guests are getting weary and 
 uncomfortable, and the thought of the fresher air 
 without grows more and more tempting. It is
 
 250 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 not a favorable moment for the debut of an ora- 
 tor. And yet when Bartlett arose, and the first 
 words uttered by his deep and manly voice were 
 heard, and the audience became aware that they 
 came from the shattered soldier whose tall and 
 slender form and wasted face they had seen at the 
 head of the procession as he painfully marshaled 
 it that day, a great silence fell upon the multi- 
 tude, and he continued and finished his speech in 
 the midst of silence, except when it was broken, 
 as it was more than once, by spontaneous bursts 
 of cheering. When he took his seat, enthusiastic 
 cheering followed, and all felt that an event had 
 taken place. It is within bounds to say that it is 
 many years since any speech made in New Eng- 
 land has produced so great an effect. He spoke 
 as follows : 
 
 MR. PRESIDENT, The first meeting of the alumni 
 around the table in this hall, which we yesterday ded- 
 icated to the memory of our brothers, is one of no com- 
 mon interest to us ; and I think I speak for all their 
 comrades in arms when I say that the thoughtfulness 
 which assigns to us the honorable duties of this day, is 
 recognized and appreciated. The day is not without 
 sadness as we read the beloved names on those marble 
 tablets, and yet not without gladness as we reflect that 
 whatever change of fortune may come to us as the years 
 roll on, their fame is secure immutable immortal. 
 We shall grow old and wear out, but they will always 
 Veep for us their glorious, spotless youth. I was glad
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 251 
 
 to hear from the lips of your distinguished orator yes- 
 terday such testimony to the absence of natural bitter- 
 ness among the mass of the people at the South ; that it 
 was due in great part to the energetic cultivation of hot- 
 brained leaders for selfish ends. I think that the nat- 
 ural instinct of the people everywhere is toward peace 
 and good will, and were it never thwarted by party 
 intrigue, we should be much nearer to a perfect union, 
 such as these men fought for, than we are to-day. The 
 occasional fire-brands thrown in the path of reconcilia- 
 tion are from the hands of those who, while the battle 
 lasted, sought "bomb-proof" positions in the rear, and 
 they no more represent the fighting men of the South 
 than the plundering politicians who have spoiled them 
 represent the true hearts at the North. I firmly be- 
 lieve that when the gallant men of Lee's army surren- 
 dered at Appomattox (touched by the delicate generosity 
 of Grant, who, obeying the dictates of his own honest 
 heart, showed no less magnanimity than political sagac- 
 ity), they followed the example of their heroic chief, and, 
 with their arms, laid down forever their disloyalty to 
 the Union. Take care, then, lest you repel, by injus- 
 tice, or suspicion, or even by indifference, the returning 
 love of men who now speak with pride of that flag as 
 "our flag." It was to make this a happy, reunited 
 country, where every man should be in reality free and 
 equal before the law, that our comrades fought, our 
 brothers fell. They died not that New England might 
 prosper or that the West might thrive. They died not 
 to defend the northern capitol, or preserve those marble 
 nails where the polished statesmen of the period conduct 
 their dignified debates ! They died for their country
 
 252 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT 
 
 for the South no less than for the North. And the 
 southern youth, in the days to come, will see this, and 
 as he stands in these hallowed halls and reads those 
 names, realizing the grandeur and power of a country 
 which, thanks to them, is still his, will exclaim, "These 
 men fought for my salvation as well as for their own. 
 They died to preserve not merely the unity of a nation, 
 but the destinies of a continent." 
 
 The remainder of the year 1874 was marked 
 for him only by an accident which threatened to 
 disable his right hand. A piece of broken glass 
 cut down to the bone of the thumb joint, making 
 a severe and dangerous wound. This happened 
 in July ; but his recovery was rapid, and in spite 
 of his suffering he had more appetite and less 
 cough than for several weeks before. He was 
 very much occupied, but his health seemed rather 
 to improve as the year drew to its close. 
 
 In March, 1875, he received an invitation from 
 the committee which had charge of the Centen- 
 nial Celebration at -Lexington, to make a speech 
 at their dinner on the 19th of April. His first 
 inclination was to refuse it. The following ex- 
 tracts show the course of his thought upon the 
 subject, and the steps by which he was brought 
 to say that he would accept the invitation : 
 
 March 25. I cannot think of accepting it. I could 
 Bay nothing worth going so far to say, or worthy of the 
 occasion or the audience. 
 
 April 3. My difficulty about speaking at Lexington is
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 253 
 
 this : that " the relations of the North to the South ' 
 cannot be discussed from any point of view without crit- 
 icising severely the action of the President and the ad- 
 ministration party, who are in a great degree respon- 
 sible for the unfortunate situation. The President will 
 be the chief guest of my host on that day, and to say 
 anything in the slightest degree offensive to him would 
 be a breach of taste and hospitality. 
 
 April 8. Everybody says I ought to go to Lexington, 
 and I begin to think it over to see if I can avoid the 
 obstacle and still say anything worth saying to such an 
 audience. 
 
 April 15. Finally wrote committee I would be at 
 Lexington and say a few words at their dinner. I have 
 been in much doubt, and have given the subject most 
 careful and earnest thought, and there have come to me 
 a few words which I feel may perhaps fall on good 
 ground and bring forth the fruit of peace and reconcili- 
 ation. For why celebrate the centennial of the birth of 
 a nation if that nation is still to be divided and dis- 
 tracted by sectional hostility ; fostered, as I truly believe, 
 to a great extent, by politicians in both sections for sel- 
 fish or party ends. I never could be a politician, for I 
 should go for my country first and my party second and 
 myself last. With most of the politicians of the day 
 this order is reversed. 
 
 April 18. Worked on my speech. It would be easy 
 to write a long one, but to condense into a few minutes 
 anything worth saying in such a place, before the whole 
 country as audience, is more difficult. It is treading on 
 delicate ground, but I know I am sincere in my belief 
 that what I am to say is for the good of the whole coun-
 
 254 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 
 
 try, and if I can carry people with me it will do much 
 good. 
 
 The 19th of April was a bitterly cold, dis- 
 agreeable day. The crowd at Lexington was im- 
 mense, and the discomfort of the multitude was 
 excessive. General Bartlett was utterly unfit for 
 such an exertion and exposure, but he was not 
 the man to turn back. He drove from Boston to 
 Lexington, and spoke rather late in the day, in 
 response to the eighth toast, " The North and the 
 South." He was chilled through, and faint from 
 want of food. He spoke as follows : 
 
 MR. PRESIDENT, When I opened the letter from 
 your committee asking me to come from five hundred 
 miles away, and say a few words here to-day, it seemed 
 impossible. But as I read further your desire that I 
 should speak on the '"relations of the North to the 
 South," and your assertion that, as an unprejudiced ob- 
 server, what I might say would help to restore fraternal 
 relations between the two great sections of our country, 
 although knowing how greatly you overrated the value 
 of any poor words of mine, I felt that, if they could 
 lend the least aid to the result you described, inclination 
 and the cares of business must yield to the voice of 
 duty ; and I came. But, sir, I am not an " unprejudiced 
 observer." On the contrary, I have a prejudice, which 
 is shared by all soldiers, in favor of peace. And I 
 think I may safely say, that, between the soldiers of the 
 two great sections of our country, fraternal relations 
 were established long ago. I have also a strong preju-
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 255 
 
 dice against any man or men who would divide or de- 
 stroy or retard the prosperity and progress of the na- 
 tion, whose corner-stone was laid in the blood of our 
 fathers one hundred years ago to-day. Moved by this 
 prejudice, fourteen years ago, I opposed the men who 
 preferred disunion to death. True to this prejudice, I 
 to-day despise the men who would, for the sake of self 
 or party, stand in the way of reconciliation and a united 
 country. The distinguished soldier who is your chief 
 guest to-day never came nearer to the hearts of the peo- 
 ple than when he said, " Let us have peace." And, sir, 
 the only really belligerent people in the country to-day, 
 north and south, are those who, while the war lasted, 
 followed carefully the paths of peace. Do not believe 
 that the light and dirty froth which is blown northward 
 and scattered over the land (oftentimes for malicious 
 purposes) represents the true current of public opinion 
 at the South. Look to their heroes, their leaders, 
 their Gordons, their Lees, their Johnsons, Lamar, Ran- 
 som, and Ripley, and tell me if you find in their utter- 
 ances anything but renewed loyalty and devotion to a 
 reunited country. These are the men, as our great and 
 good Governor Andrew told you at the close of the war, 
 these are the men by whom and through whom you 
 must restore the South, instead of the meaner men for 
 whom power is only a synonym for plunder. As I 
 begged you last summer, I entreat you again : do not 
 repel the returning love of these men by suspicion or 
 indifference. If you cannot in forgiveness "kill the 
 fatted calf," do not with coldness kill " the prodigal." 
 When the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment made 
 its gallant attack on Fort Wagner, in July, 1863, it lost,
 
 256 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 with hundreds of its brave men, its I eroic leader and ;ts 
 colors. A few weeks ago, that flag was gracefully re- 
 turned to the Governor of Massachusetts by the officer 
 who took it in action, with these noble words : 
 
 " Under the existing state of things, I deem it deco- 
 rous, if not a positive duty, to promote the oblivion of 
 animosities which led to, and were engendered by, the 
 war. I prefer to look upon such trophies as mementoes 
 of the gallant conduct of men who, like Shaw, Putnam, 
 and other sons of Massachusetts, sealed with their lives 
 their devotion to the cause which they adopted, rather 
 than as evidences of prowess on the one side or the 
 other. The custodians of such a memento should bo 
 the authorities of the state served by these gallant men ; 
 and I therefore transmit the flag to your Excellency 
 for such disposition as the authorities of Massachusetts 
 shall determine. 
 
 " Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 " R. S. RIPLEY." 
 
 No one but a soldier can know how he would cling 
 to a trophy that he had taken in honorable battle. No 
 one but a soldier knows what it would cost to give it up, 
 unless compelled by the loftier motives of chivalrous 
 patriotism. And when General Ripley wrote that let- 
 ter, he thought not of self, not of South Carolina nor of 
 Massachusetts, but of a restored and a united country, 
 and his heart embraced a continent. There are tattered 
 flags in that sacred hall in yonder Capitol, around which, 
 in the shock of battle, I have seen dear friends and 
 brave men fall like autumn leaves. There are flags 
 there that I cannot look upon without tears of pride and
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 257 
 
 sorrow. But there is no flag there which has to-day 
 for us a deeper significance, or that bears within its folds 
 a brighter omen of " Peace on earth, good will to men," 
 than that battle-stained emblem so tenderly restored by 
 a son of South Carolina, whom here, in the name of tlie 
 soldiers of Massachusetts, I thank and greet as a brother. 
 And I am proud that he was an American soldier. As 
 an American, I am as proud of the men who charged 
 so bravely with Pickett's Division on our lines at Gettys- 
 burg, as I am of the men who so bravely met and re- 
 pulsed them there. Men cannot always choose the right 
 cause ; but when, having chosen that which conscience 
 dictates, they are ready to die for it, if they justify not 
 their cause, they at least ennoble themselves. And the 
 men who, for conscience' sake, fought against their gov- 
 ernment at Gettysburg, ought easily to be forgiven by 
 the sons of men who, for conscience' sake, fought against 
 their government at Lexington and Bunker Hill. 
 
 Oh, sir, as Massachusetts was first in war, so let her 
 be first in peace, and she shall forever be first in the 
 hearts of her countrymen. And let us here resolve 
 that, true to her ancient motto, while in war " Ense petit 
 placidam" in peace she demands, not only for herself, 
 but for every inch of this great country, " sub libertate 
 quietem." 
 
 He left the ground as soon as he had finished 
 speaking, and returned to Boston. He records in 
 his journal : 
 
 Got back to town about 8, well used up. The British 
 certainly had their revenge on us to-day. We have had 
 17
 
 258 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 quite as uncomfortable a day as they had a hundred 
 years ago. 
 
 April 20. Papers have my speech in full, and speak 
 in a very flattering way of it Every one con- 
 gratulates me on my speech. It is very gratifying, and 
 I am very proud and happy. 
 
 He might well be proud and happy. It falls to 
 the lot of few to achieve such a success as his at 
 Lexington. There are sentences in his speech 
 which will linger long in the memories, not only 
 of the thousands who heard them, but of the tens 
 of thousands of those who read them, and recog- 
 nized in the worn soldier who uttered them the 
 possessor of true eloquence and genuine love of 
 country. 
 
 On the 28th of April, the ex-confederate sol- 
 diers of Richmond expressed their sense of his 
 speech by giving him a serenade, at which Gen- 
 eral Bradley Johnson spoke for them. General 
 Bartlett replied in a speech of some length, from 
 which the following paragraph is taken : 
 
 " To cement the Union on a sounder foundation, and 
 avail ourselves of the promises of the future, is a solemn 
 task, well fitted to these centennial years. As soldiers 
 who fought the battle out in good faith, you can wield 
 the strongest influence for peace and right. Your worst 
 enemies at the South are the few men here and there 
 who talk more bravely than they fought, and it is the 
 same at the North ; but the people there, tired of these
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 259 
 
 politicians, whose voice is still for war, are fast replacing 
 them by men of less selfish purposes, whose views are 
 bounded by no narrow lines of state, or section, or party, 
 but who desire justice and prosperity for all. The war 
 through which we passed developed and proved, on both 
 sides, the noblest qualities of American manhood. It 
 has left to us soldiers, once foes, now friends, a memory 
 of hard-fought fields, of fearful sacrifices, of heroic valor, 
 and has taught us a lesson to be transmitted to our 
 children: that divided, we were terrible, united, we 
 are forever invincible." 
 
 His speech was sent all over the country by 
 the Associated Press. He writes in his journal, 
 April 30 : 
 
 The papers in Massachusetts and elsewhere nominate 
 me for high office, as if that were the only reward a man 
 can seek. I don't propose to decline any office until it 
 is offered, but just as sure as I am offered the governor- 
 ship of Massachusetts, I shall take the opportunity to 
 prove that the satisfaction of doing one's duty so as to 
 win the applause and approval of good men, is a reward 
 greater than any office, and I am already repaid. 
 
 In May of this year, he was strongly urged to 
 go to the Mecklenburg Centennial Celebration, at 
 Charlotte, N. C.,but he declined, because troubles 
 about coal made it impossible for him to leave 
 Richmond. 
 
 On the 6th of June, he writes thus in his 
 Journal :
 
 260 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 My birthday. I hope if I live to see another that 
 affairs will look more promising. Business looks very 
 blue. I wish I were out of it. I never ought to have 
 gone into it. I ought to have stayed in the army, or 
 else accepted some of the salaried positions that were 
 offered me. Or even if I had begun to study law 
 at the end of the war, I might be better off now. But 
 God knows best, and we are in his hands. How little 
 we know what he has in store for us ! He has been 
 very indulgent and merciful to me in spite of my many 
 shortcomings. 
 
 And now this year, when I supposed that public 
 applause and the public approval of good men was a 
 thing of the past, I find myself suddenly more conspic- 
 uous than ever, and honorably so, for saying at Lex- 
 ington the words that were in my heart, and which I 
 believed would hasten the healing of the wounds of war 
 in our country. 
 
 At this time he was much annoyed and made 
 very anxious by coal strikes, and these came just 
 as he was giving up his residence in Richmond. 
 He was quite worn out, and gave himself some 
 rest for a fortnight after he reached the North ; 
 but he found time to prepare a little speech which 
 he had been asked to make at the approaching 
 Commencement dinner at Cambridge. He says 
 of it in his journal, June 28: "Poor thing. I 
 will not do it again. Let those speak who can 
 easily." The following letter describes his feel- 
 ings on receiving the invitation :
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 261 
 
 WEST STOCKBRIDGE, MASS., June 19, 1875. 
 
 .... I found in this same batch of letters one from 
 J. Kussell Lowell, asking me to speak again at Com- 
 mencement. This involves, no matter how small the 
 result, a certain amount of thought and worry and de- 
 pression, which I do not want to undergo; besides, I 
 consider that I have done my share, and I know I have 
 nothing more worth saying. 
 
 They ask me to represent those who died in the war. 
 I sometimes feel quite ready to be sent as ambassador 
 to them. 
 
 The rest of the year 1875 was for him a period 
 of declining health and of declining fortunes. 
 His journal reveals the fact that he was realizing 
 with increasing clearness the fact that his end 
 was approaching. The following extracts are in 
 place here : 
 
 July 5. I am not at all well, and ought to keep still 
 and do nothing, but I cannot. 
 
 July 14. Write little Edwin. Dear little man, how 
 I love him, and how I wish I could be spared long 
 enough to win his love and memory. If I were to go 
 
 this year or next, he would never remember me 
 
 Dear boy, how I would like to watch him grow up. I 
 would try to guide and guard him to be a better man 
 than his father, who loves him so dearly. 
 
 July 15. No man was ever blessed with such a per- 
 fect wife and lovely children. I pray their lives may 
 take no shadow from those which seem to hang about 
 mine, now too near its close I fear.
 
 262 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 
 
 July 19. Not much appetite. Felt like death yes- 
 terday. 
 
 August 2. A blue day for me. I am not strong, 
 and pretty well unnerved. 
 
 August 3. Pretty well used up. 
 
 August 7. Am very tired and used up, but can rest, 
 I hope. 
 
 August 8. Rest, rest. It is very sweet to be here 
 with my darling Agnes. 
 
 September 17. Am much better. Gaining weight. 
 Weight without leg, thin clothes, 123 pounds. 
 
 December 25. Christmas. I could not resist an ap- 
 peal to stay (at Pittsfield), as I do not feel sure of many 
 more of them. 
 
 These words were prophetic. It proved his 
 last Christmas. 
 
 Until December of this year, 1875, when he 
 established his family once more at Pittsfield, 
 they were most of the time at his uncle's estate 
 of Miramonte, on the North River, and he was 
 sometimes there, sometimes in New York and 
 other northern cities, but twice at least at Rich- 
 mond, where he spent much of the months of July 
 and September. The panic of 1873, which ar- 
 rested so suddenly and sharply the seeming pros- 
 perity of the country, had affected the iron in- 
 terest with especial severity. The capital which 
 General Bartlett could command was mainly em- 
 barked in the iron enterprises at West Stock- 
 Oridge and at Richmond, and his distress of body
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 263 
 
 was aggravated by the distress of mind which at- 
 tended the mortification of failure and the pressure 
 of narrowing means. He labored with all the 
 vigor that was left him to bring about a better 
 state of things, but in vain. He went to the 
 length of endorsing individually the paper of the 
 Richmond Company to get time. 
 
 While health and fortune were thus declining, 
 his life was not without pleasant incidents and 
 gratifying proofs of the growing regard of his 
 fellow citizens. The latter will receive more de- 
 tailed notice, but among the former may be men- 
 tioned his appearance as a speaker upon four 
 occasions. At the reunion of his old regiment, 
 the Forty-ninth Massachusetts Infantry, on the 
 9th of September, he spoke as follows : 
 
 COMRADES, To call on me for a speech at one of 
 these reunions seems to me like calling on the father of 
 a family to make a formal address to his children at his 
 own table. For though you have outgrown my author- 
 ity, you were my children once, and I fear that you re- 
 member me as a rather " stern parent." 
 
 I certainly never was accused of " sparing the rod " 
 of discipline, and I hope you never were accused of being 
 " spoiled children." 
 
 I have no doubt that in the early part of your service, 
 and on your first marches, you thought your Colonel 
 was unnecessarily strict and severe. You could not see 
 why you were not permitted the same license that other 
 regiments in your vicinity had.
 
 264 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 But in your first battle, when you found yourselves 
 standing firm under fire, while some of those other regi- 
 ments broke and ran away, and where by your coolness 
 and discipline you turned defeat into victory, you recog- 
 nized the result where you had not understood the cause, 
 and you were from that day as proud of yourselves and 
 your regiment as I was. 
 
 The Forty-ninth was a peculiarly homogeneous regi- 
 ment. I mean by that, there was less inequality among 
 its members and between its men and their officers than 
 was usual. It was strictly a county regiment (I believe 
 there was not a man in it from outside of Berkshire), 
 and this gave it a certain local pride and " esprit de 
 corps " that was very valuable. 
 
 But the secret of your success was that proof of true 
 manhood, your cheerful and intelligent submission to 
 discipline, the subjugation of self to an idea. Not 
 cringing to a man (your equal or perhaps inferior at 
 home) because he wore a shoulder-strap, but subjecting 
 yourself to that emblem of authority without any loss 
 of self respect, because it was for the good of the ser- 
 vice, and for the sake of the country in whose service you 
 were offering your lives. This was the nobility of your 
 soldiership, and its memory must ever be your pride. 
 
 At the dedication of the Public Library in his 
 native town of Haverhill, November 11, 1875, he 
 spoke as follows : 
 
 LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, FELLOW-CITIZENS OP 
 HAVERHILL, Standing as this beautiful structure does 
 on land formerly my ancestor's, within speaking dis- 
 ance, across the way, of the house were I was born, I
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 265 
 
 think I may still claim fellowship here. It would be 
 quite natural that you should forget the relationship, 
 but to me it is a matter of such pride that I never can. 
 And I am prouder than ever to-day of my native town. 
 Proud of her history ; proud of her historic names ; 
 proud of the men, some of whom I see about me, who 
 have inherited and added honor to those names ; proud 
 of her noble war record (which might have been pre- 
 dicted by any one familiar with her colonial and revolu- 
 tionary history) ; proud of her noble women, who in those 
 trying times proved themselves worthy of their noble 
 ancestry; proud of her "sweet singer" of the Merrimack, 
 our own beloved Whittier, whose absence to-day we 
 regret, but whose words you have heard, and whose 
 pure spirit and gentle verse shall be a benediction here, 
 while the peace-makers go to " inherit the kingdom of 
 heaven," and "the pure in heart" to "see God;" proud 
 of her material prosperity and wealth ; but prouder still 
 that she here recognizes the fact that there is something 
 worth more than riches, and that culture, refinement and 
 the dissemination of knowledge, are more to be desired 
 than silver and gold. 
 
 I am glad that you are to have a free library, abso- 
 lutely free, and I will tell you why. It is found that a 
 tax, however small and insignificant it might seem to 
 many of you, would debar some from using the library, 
 and those, the very people in whose hands we ought to 
 place our books. When the public library in Pittsfield 
 was opened to subscribers at the low rate of one dollar 
 a year, the number of book-takers was four hundred. 
 "When the library became free, as it now is, the number 
 increased to nearly two thousand, and is constantly
 
 266 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 growing. This in a town of ten thousand inhabitants. 
 Now, in regard to the class of books to be kept for. cir- 
 culation, some believe that nothing but what is called 
 the better class of literature, instructive works, classics, 
 should be sent out, in order to elevate the taste of the 
 people. This, I think, is a mistake. It is like telling a 
 boy he shan't go into the water till he knows how to swiin. 
 First create the taste, then elevate it as you can. If the 
 boy can't read the kind of books that interest him, he 
 simply won't read at all. Exclude novels from your 
 library, and see how the circulation will dwindle. The 
 explanation of this is to be found in the fact that if one 
 has a taste for poetry or classic prose, he buys the vol- 
 ume if his means permit, for he wants it always by him. 
 The novel he reads and has no further use for, and so 
 he takes it from the library. Do you ask how low in 
 the scale I would go ? To the very bottom, of course ex- 
 cluding any immoral trash. I would have the " Dime 
 Novels," by all means. They are highly sensational, but 
 morally harmless. My own reading has not been ex- 
 tensive enough to embrace these works, but my informa- 
 tion comes from one of the foremost critics and essayists 
 in this country, who has given much thought to this 
 subject in connection with the great public library of 
 Boston. And now let me tell you a little story about 
 the effect of thus putting the scale of reading down to 
 the capacity of the poorest and youngest. A dirty, 
 ragged little boy crawled into the public library of Bos- 
 ton, a few years ago, and asked for a dime novel. The 
 superintendent told him if he would go and wash his 
 face and hands and brush the dirt from his clothes, he 
 tfould give him the coveted book. The boy soon after
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 267 
 
 returned, much improved in appearance, and received a 
 dime novel. The next day he came for another, tak- 
 ing care to appear cleaner than before, and became a 
 regular applicant. A few years afterwards, a young man 
 applied to the superintendent for a certain rare edition 
 of Shakespeare, which was not in the collection, and on 
 conversing on the subject, he found that the young man 
 knew more about the various editions of Shakespeare 
 than he himself did. It was the boy to whom he had 
 issued the dime novel, a few years before, and the last 
 book that the librarian noticed as being taken out by 
 him was Paley's " Moral Philosophy." Now, I don't 
 mean to say that every boy who begins on dime novels 
 will rise to Paley. But I do insist that if that boy 
 could not have had the dime novel at that time, he 
 would never have read Paley or discussed the editions 
 of Shakespeare. 
 
 And it is for this reason that we should make our 
 public libraries attractive, not only to the scholar, but to 
 the very lowest and poorest, and give to all who come, 
 not only the sense of welcome, but the sense of equality, 
 also. For, as Ruskin has so well said, this court of 
 the past, where kings and statesmen and poets, the 
 purest and the wisest of all ages, stand waiting patiently 
 in those silent alcoves to talk with and instruct us when- 
 ever we will, differs from other courts and living aristoc- 
 racies. Into this society of the great and good of every 
 age and clime, the lowliest may enter, take rank and 
 fellowship, not from his birth and wealth, or lack of 
 either, but according to his desire. It is open to labor 
 and to merit, but to nothing else. No wealth can bribe, 
 no artifice deceive, no title overawe, the guardians of
 
 268 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 those elysian gates. You deserve to enter because you 
 desire to enter. And so I say we should try to attract 
 especially the young and poor and friendless. For, the 
 lower we go in laying the foundation of modern society 
 by imparting knowledge, or creating a desire for it, 
 
 " Since but to wish more virtue is to gain," 
 the safer aud nobler will be the structure above. 
 
 And if this library, founded, sir, by your liberality 
 and wisdom, shall be the means of raising only one of 
 these little ones from ignorance, poverty, and crime, to 
 knowledge, which is wealth, to civilization and to God, 
 you shall, one day, hear the words, " Well done," from 
 the lips of Him who said : "Inasmuch as ye have done 
 it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have 
 done it unto me." 
 
 And in introducing Mr. Schurz to an audience 
 collected at Pittsfield on the 27th of the same 
 month, as follows : 
 
 It would be a poor expression of the love and respect 
 I have for the people of Berkshire, so largely repre- 
 sented here to-night, were I to fulfil the promise which 
 I see has been made for me, and delay you with an in- 
 troductory speech in the presence of the man whom you 
 have come to welcome and listen to. It would be only 
 a little less superfluous than the introduction itself which 
 I have been asked to make. 
 
 When Daniel Webster introduced William Wirt, then 
 Attorney-general of the United States, to the Supreme 
 Court of Massachusetts, in 1829, Mr. Wirt, in rising, 
 Baid that Mr. Webster had laid him under an obligation 
 tfhich he could never hope to repay; for he was quite
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 269 
 
 sure that he could never introduce Mr. Webster to any 
 court where his name and fame had not already pre- 
 ceded him. 
 
 I am equally sure that Mr. Schurz cannot appear be- 
 fore any audience of cultivated people, anywhere in this 
 country of his adoption, where his name is not familiar, 
 and his fame held dear. 
 
 Now, why is this? 
 
 Not because of his early history, so romantic, so 
 heroic ; not because, when war in this country became 
 inevitable, he went to the field and defended with his 
 sword the principles which he had asserted and main- 
 tained with his pen ; not because he has held the high 
 office of Senator of the United States ; but it is because, 
 while holding that sacred trust, he dared to remonstrate 
 with and oppose those leaders, or rather misleaders, of 
 the organization to which he belonged, when it became 
 evident that they intended to use the country for party 
 ends, rather than the party for their country's good. It 
 is because he placed principle higher than party, and for 
 the sake of right, honor, justice, and common sense, was 
 willing to sacrifice self, place, power, and the friendships 
 of years ; his only consolation, the pleasure, to which 
 Lord Bacon has said no other can be compared, " that 
 of standing on the vantage ground of truth." It is be- 
 cause when this same party, fearing defeat this fall in 
 the great State of Ohio, called on him to come over and 
 help it, he did not stop to debate whether he ought to 
 support a party which had insulted and driven from its 
 councils such men as Carl Schurz and Charles Sumner, 
 but, seeing that upon the great issue then before the peo- 
 ple, the party (whether from conviction or policy ha
 
 270 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 cared not) was right, that the honor and safety of the 
 nation was in danger, he needed no second call, but 
 hastening to the front at a critical moment, when the 
 result seemed most doubtful, when the party politicians 
 were talking over " war issues " and quibbling over 
 "school questions," and all felt that 
 
 " One blast upon his bugle horn 
 Were worth a thousand men " 
 
 such as they, he threw the weight of his eloquence and 
 the conviction of his sincerity into the scale, and turned 
 a threatened defeat into glorious victory. A victory, 
 which, in this part of the country, I am proud to say, 
 gave equal joy to both political parties. A victory 
 which buried the weightless body of " inflation " in 
 a grave "not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a 
 church door," but deep enough and wide enough to 
 receive the remains of any party which shall hereafter 
 attempt its resurrection. 
 
 I have trespassed too long on your patience, and our 
 friend's modesty. Mr. Schurz, you need no introduction 
 here ; but it gives me great pleasure to introduce to you 
 this assembly of my friends, your fellow-citizens of Berk- 
 shire, whose sincere welcome, if not at their fingers' 
 ends, awaits you more deeply in their hearts. 
 
 At the dinner of the New England Society in 
 New York, on Forefathers' Day, December 22, 
 1875, he replied as follows to the toast, " The 
 Reconstructed Republic : " 
 
 Five and twenty years ago to-night you had as your 
 honored guest that great son of New England, whose
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 271 
 
 love for her was only equaled by his love for the whole 
 country, and his devotion to the Constitution and Union 
 under which it had advanced to power and prosperity. 
 There are those here to-night, I doubt not, who, looking 
 back a quarter of a century, will recall the presence and 
 perhaps the words of Daniel Webster. They will re- 
 member how in imagination he summoned forth from 
 the Mayflower's company the form of Elder William 
 Brewster, and put into his mouth words of gratulation, 
 of caution, and of prophecy. We, too, on this anniver- 
 sary night, call forth in our imagination his own majestic 
 form, but who shall presume to put words into those 
 lips ? I shudder at the presumption which leads me to 
 say to him for you with plain sincerity what so many 
 among you might express with eloquence as well as 
 truth. I would tell him that in days gone by we have 
 thanked God that when his eyes were " turned to behold 
 for the last time the sun in heaven," they did not see 
 him shining on the broken fragments of a once glorious 
 Union, on a land drenched with fraternal blood. It was 
 reserved for us who survived him to see the awful re- 
 ality which he so vividly pictured, and, happily, it was 
 reserved for us to pass through and see the light beyond 
 those clouds which darkened his fading vision. I would 
 have him know what I hope it is neither too early nor 
 too late for us to acknowledge, that the doctrines which 
 he instilled by the charm of his eloquence into the young 
 hearts of New England and the North, that this their 
 country was not a group of states, but a nation, great 
 and indivisible, had filled them with a spirit of exalted 
 patriotism, which, when the hour of that country's trial 
 came, carried them to the field as it would have carried
 
 272 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLLTT. 
 
 them to the stake in her defense ; not joyously, for their 
 country was in danger, and it meant civil war, but stead- 
 fastly, soberly, and with the determination that, since the 
 appeal to the sword had been made, by the sword should 
 be settled forever the question which, since the death of 
 Washington, had been a stumbling-block of offense in 
 the path of the nation's progress. If I know anything 
 of the motives of the soldiers of New England, they 
 fought neither for glory nor for conquest, and, when the 
 broken sword of secession was surrendered in good faith, 
 none were more ready than they to accept the pledge in 
 equal honor, to bind up the dreadful wounds of war, and 
 welcome their brothers back to a share in the glory of a 
 nation whose very existence that victory had made pos- 
 sible. I would have him know that from his own New 
 England came the first words of reconciliation, which, 
 yielding not one particle of principle, assured a brave 
 foe that all enmity had ceased " when the war-drum 
 throbbed no longer, and the battle-flags were furled ; " 
 that the thunder of those morning guns, saluting the 
 dawn of our second century on the field of Lexington 
 and Concord, broke the ice of estrangement and distrust, 
 and their echoes are still vibrating among the chords 
 that stretch from every battle-field of the Revolution to 
 every American heart. 
 
 Mighty son of New England, what fitter greeting 
 can we give thee than thine own words uttered here so 
 long age? Words which, with thy foreboding heart, 
 were the aspiration of hope, but to us have become the 
 inspiration of prophecy : " The day-spring from on high 
 has visited us. The country has been called back to 
 conscience and duty. There is no longer imminent
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 273 
 
 Danger of dissolution in these United States. We shall 
 live and not die. We shall live as united Americans, 
 and those who have supposed they could sever us, that 
 they could rend one American heart from another, and 
 that speculation and hypothesis, that secession and meta- 
 physics, could tear us asunder, will find themselves wo- 
 fully mistaken. Americans, North and South, will be 
 hereafter more and more united ; united now, and united 
 forever." 
 
 The following letter refers to the foregoing 
 speech. 
 
 N. T. HOTEL, December 23, 1875. 
 
 I did not do anything about my speech early enough 
 to send it to you. Indeed I did n't feel sure that I was 
 to speak till I went there last evening, and found myself 
 marched in next the President, Sherman, Governor 
 Morgan, and Joe Choate. What I had prepared, after 
 a good deal of thought, fitted well enough the toast I 
 was given, of a " Reconstructed Republic." 
 
 But what I wanted your advice on was the propriety 
 of introducing Daniel Webster (as I found it was in 
 1850, at their dinner, he made his great speech, from 
 which I quote), and whether it was too early, or too 
 late, to pay a little tribute to his fame, which at the last 
 had been clouded, and to the influence which I have 
 always believed he exerted in creating and consolidating 
 the intense Union feeling at the North, without which 
 the war never could have been carried through. The 
 speech was very well received, and I had many con- 
 gratulations. I delivered it very well, although my voice 
 was a little hoarse. You see how I talk to you, as I 
 18
 
 274 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 would to no one else but to Agnes, about myself, be- 
 cause I feel so sure of your love that I think what con- 
 cerns me will interest you. 
 
 Yours ever, FRANK B. 
 
 Though the proofs of the esteem in which he 
 was held by his fellow-citizens, which have been 
 already mentioned as received by him in this 
 year, were gratifying, yet, as it happened, they 
 caused him no small embarrassment. In Septem- 
 ber, he was offered the Democratic nomination 
 for the place of Lieutenant-governor of Massa- 
 chusetts. His earlier sympathies had inclined 
 strongly to the Democratic side. The conduct of 
 the Democratic party during the war had turned 
 his sympathies the other way, and for some years 
 after the close of the war he had acted generally 
 with the Republican party. Of late, in common 
 with many of the best men at the North, he had 
 become excessively dissatisfied with the conduct 
 of the Republicans, especially in their treatment 
 of the South. But he was always a man who 
 cared more for substance than for names, more 
 for principles than for platforms, and he had 
 formed an enthusiastic admiration for the char- 
 acter of Mr. Charles Francis Adams. He thought 
 that Mr. Adams might receive the Republican 
 nomination for Governor, and his feeling for him 
 was such that he was personally unwilling to be a 
 candidate upon a ticket opposed to him, and, upon
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 275 
 
 the supposition that his name would lend strength 
 to the Democratic ticket, he was unwilling to con- 
 tribute to the defeat of the very man whose elec- 
 tion he ardently desired. Thus, though inclined 
 on other grounds to accept the nomination, he 
 notified the Democratic managers on the 18th, 
 two days after hearing from them, that he would 
 not be a candidate. 
 
 On the 23d, the Democratic Convention met, 
 and nominated General Bartlett for Lieutenant- 
 governor with great enthusiasm and very flatter- 
 ing resolutions. This action placed him in a dif- 
 ficult position, for it is a very different thing to 
 decline the nomination of a convention which has 
 assembled, acted, and dissolved, from what it is to 
 decline, beforehand, to accept a nomination. In 
 much perplexity, urged by valued friends to take 
 the nomination and to decline it, assured by the 
 general voice of the newspapers of the day that 
 his name would give great strength to the ticket, 
 unable, as all men were that autumn, to form 
 a reasonably confident conjecture as to what the 
 action of the Republican Convention (which was 
 to assemble the following week) would be he 
 determined to keep his own counsel till he should 
 receive official notice of his nomination, hoping 
 that in the time thus gained the Republican Con- 
 vention might meet, and by its action clear the 
 way so that he might wisely shape his own course. 
 There was one candidate who was said to have
 
 276 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 some chance of receiving the Republican nomina- 
 tion, whom he was as eager to see fail as he was 
 to see Mr. Adams succeed. If the Republicans 
 should nominate either of these two, his course 
 would be clear. 
 
 On the 28th of September, he went to Wash- 
 ington, in compliance with a request which he re- 
 ceived by telegraph, and there learned that some 
 of the most powerful managers of the Republi- 
 can party in Massachusetts desired him to take 
 the Republican nomination for Governor. There 
 was much chance of his receiving the nomination 
 if he permitted his name to be used, and if he 
 were nominated he was reasonably certain of be- 
 ing elected. How he received the offer may best 
 be told in his own words. In his journal of the 
 same date he writes : 
 
 I was dreadfully disturbed, but it seemed to me it 
 would look very dirty to go back on the Democrats 
 after what they had done, and accept a higher office 
 from the Republicans. It would look like selling my- 
 self to the highest bidder. Then it might be used to 
 defeat Mr. Adams's nomination. It was a temptation, 
 but I decided, after much prayerful thought, that, under 
 the circumstances, I ought to decline, and W. so tel- 
 egraphed to Worcester. Was any man ever placed in 
 just such a position before ? Came home to-day, wor- 
 ried greatly. 
 
 Three days after, he wrote the following let- 
 ter :
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 277 
 
 RICHMOND, VA., October 1, 1875. 
 
 What would I not give for an hour's talk with you. 
 I never needed the advice and support of a real friend 
 as I have for the past ten days. In the first place, I 
 was offered, just as I was leaving Pittsfield, and urged 
 strongly to accept, the nomination of Lieutenant-gov- 
 ernor at the approaching Democratic Convention. I 
 considered the matter carefully, and decided that while 
 there was a chance of Mr. Adams being nominated by 
 the Republicans, I could not run the risk of being on the 
 opposite ticket ; but I admitted that if Loring succeeded 
 in capturing the nomination, I would be willing to serve 
 for the sake of smashing him. Of this course I had 
 no doubt. I therefore wrote and telegraphed from New 
 York, September 18th, four days before the convention, 
 that I was compelled to decline the honor. The next 
 thing, I saw to my surprise that they had nominated me 
 in a very handsome and enthusiastic manner, recognizing 
 the fact that I am not a Democrat, and that they thrust 
 the honor upon me. (In short, they were willing to 
 take the risk of my declining, in the hope that Loring 
 would be nominated, or some man whom I could not 
 support.) I determined to await the result of the Re- 
 publican Convention, as I had no official notice of my 
 nomination, and could not decline again till I bad. 
 
 If Adams had been nominated, my course was plain, 
 withdraw at once on being notified. This would 
 have been expected by the Democrats and acquiesced 
 in. If Loring had been nominated my course was 
 equally plain, accept the nomination. As Rice has 
 oeen nominated, I am in doubt. My withdrawal now 
 will not be expected by the Democrats, and will no
 
 278 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 doubt give them great offense, as it will seriously iujure 
 their prospects, if I may believe what they say. 
 
 I do not look upon the office with the contempt that 
 you express. It is an honorable position, of no great 
 responsibility or pecuniary reward; but the estimate 
 which my friends put upon my abilities and deserts is 
 so much greater than I know to be true, that I would 
 much rather take an office that I could fill with honor, 
 than be honored by one that I could not fill with satis- 
 faction to myself or my friends. 
 
 The office would give me no trouble or anxiety, and 
 would give me an insight into public life that would be 
 valuable if I ever expect to fill a more responsible posi- 
 tion. 
 
 It would give me a satisfactory way of withdrawing 
 from the grinding anxiety of this work here, and settle 
 the question of continuing a residence here. If this fur- 
 nace stops, I should not have any salary from it. When 
 the West Stockbridge furnace stops, it will be very 
 small, I should think, if any, that I should feel justified 
 in taking. You see this office (if elected) would give 
 me something to live on in Pittsfield in a quiet way, 
 while I should be in a better position to find some morp 
 remunerative work to do. The idea of running for 
 office is, I confess, distasteful to me, but one cannot dic- 
 tate his fortune and preferences. 
 
 As a matter of principle, there is no issue between 
 the two parties. The platforms are the same. It seems 
 to me that by strengthening the hard money Demo- 
 ciats, we may help them overthrow this western lunacy 
 which threatens to rule the country. I have a very ur- 
 gent letter from Judge Abbott, in which he says I will
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 279 
 
 bear him witness that previously, when they have offered 
 me the nomination for Governor, although for the sake 
 of his party he would have liked it, he did not urge me, 
 and agreed with me that it was better for me to decline ; 
 now, he says, the thing is entirely changed, and he has 
 given the subject the careful thought that he would if it 
 were his own son, and he urges me as he would Henry 
 under similar circumstances. He says that it will make 
 me Governor next year, or put me on the national ticket 
 as Vice-president. 
 
 (I don't want to be Governor, and the other is almost 
 as likely to happen as I am to be struck by lightning, 
 but not quite.) They do not influence me. But will 
 the offense that my withdrawal will certainly give to a 
 large body of my fellow-citizens (although I am blame- 
 less in the matter), injure me more than my acceptance 
 of the place will with another body of my fellow-cit- 
 izens ? If I have character and reputation enough to 
 be thought worthy of a higher place, cannot that char- 
 acter sustain the shock of my taking and filling a lower 
 one? 
 
 I write down these thoughts as they have come up in 
 my mind, not clearly, perhaps, or in order, but to show 
 you some of the motives that must govern me. I want 
 to do what is right in the matter, and what, in the end, 
 will be best for me. 
 
 Do you think I would be elected if I ran ? Do you 
 believe I could be elected even if Gaston were not? 
 / should not do any work for myself or the ticket. 
 
 If you have no particle of doubt as to what is best for 
 me personally, without looking at it as a Republican or 
 a Democrat, telegraph me Monday, for I must reply at 
 once on receipt of their notification, if I decline.
 
 280 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 If you have doubts, write me your views, with the de- 
 cision you incline to, and please don't feel any more 
 bored than you can help by this infliction. 
 
 Ever yours, W. F. B. 
 
 Excuse this hastily written sheet. After reading this, 
 I am inclined to tell you in strictest confidence, of an- 
 other thing that has helped to perplex and disturb me 
 this week. I was summoned to Washington by tele- 
 graph Tuesday, and there it was proposed to me by 
 authority that I should allow my name to be brought 
 before the Republican Convention for Governor, after 
 the first or second ballot, with proper speech, etc., and 
 be carried by acclamation. This from the highest 
 authority. I was staggered for a minute, but it seemed 
 to me so much like a bribe, and that it would have the 
 appearance of selling myself to the highest bidder, 
 holding the Democratic nomination till I saw what the 
 Republicans would do, that I declined, and a pre-ar- 
 ranged telegram in cipher was sent to Worcester that 
 night, before the convention. 
 
 Another fear I had was, that my name might be used 
 to head off Mr. Adams in the convention, for I knew 
 that these people, though they, in their distress, would, 
 as a last resort, turn to Adams, would much rather have 
 me if that would satisfy the clamor (as I would not be 
 so unapproachable, I suppose). 
 
 But, Frank, think of the triumph that filled my 
 secret heart when the Republican party managers came 
 to me (three years after 1872, when I predicted what 
 has come to them, and urged them to come up higher), 
 came to me, and begged me to go on their ticket to
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 281 
 
 save Massachusetts to the Republican party! Do you 
 wonder that I was disturbed ? Don't you agree with 
 me, that it would have appeared mean, and black, al- 
 though it could be proved that it was not? Still one 
 would n't like to be tried for theft or adultery even 
 though he were sure of acquittal. Only you and four 
 other men and Agues know this, so mum ! unless you 
 hear it from other sources. Yours, F. 
 
 Mr. Rice was nominated, and his most trusted 
 friends advised him to decline the Democratic 
 nomination. He accordingly did so, on the 8th 
 of October, upon receipt of formal notice of the 
 action of the convention, in a letter which was 
 warmly commended. In it he said : 
 
 " I appreciate and applaud the spirit evinced by your 
 convention in its willingness to subordinate party names 
 to the public good; but having no desire for political 
 office, I cannot persuade myself that any public interest 
 demands, at this time, the sacrifice of my personal wishes. 
 If the time for such sacrifice comes, I shall be ready to 
 make it, whether it be with the Democratic party or the 
 Republican party (or, better still, the honest half of both), 
 so it shall be the party which the near future impera- 
 tively calls for to lead the way of true reform, pure ad- 
 ministration and intelligent progress. A party which 
 shall neither be obliged to content itself with the recital 
 of its past achievements, nor atone for its past mistakes." 
 
 Before the time arrived for him to receive the 
 of any other place of trust or dignity, his
 
 282 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 
 
 health had so far declined that he was no longer 
 in the race. As early as August of this year 
 (1875), he had been strongly urged by a trusty 
 friend to drop cares of every kind, and strive to 
 arrest his downward course by travel and absolute 
 rest of mind. In his reply, held back three weeks 
 for mature consideration, he wrote as follows : 
 
 PITTSFIELD, September 11, 1875. 
 
 In regard to business, I know perfectly well that 
 somebody takes your place when you " fall in your 
 tracks," but you will admit there are often times when 
 it is a man's duty to fall in his tracks rather than desert 
 under fire. It looks as if the furnace at Richmond could 
 not go on much longer. I can save it, and those who 
 have left the whole thing to my care, from the total loss 
 which would ensue if I were to abandon it at this time. 
 I hope to put it in such a condition that I shall not have 
 to be there much, and be relieved from this anxiety and 
 worry. 
 
 The furnace here will stop November 1st, and my 
 responsibility here is shared by others and does not 
 weigh on me so dreadfully. Of course, with both fur- 
 naces stopped, I shall be out of work, and I must look 
 for something to do that will give me something like a 
 support for my family. I know that you will be on the 
 watch for anything that might by chance turn up that I 
 could take. There are very few things that I am fit for, 
 but I am tired of tlhis struggling at manufacturing, and 
 rushing about the land, and would be glad of work that 
 would keep me quietly in an office. 
 
 The future doesn't seem very bright, but to have
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 283 
 
 bound to me such a friendship as yours, makes the pres- 
 ent seem more full of happiness than I thought it pos- 
 sible. 
 
 I am actually feeling better. I have been resting, 
 bodily, if not mentally, for more than a month, and since 
 I came back from Boston I have gained two pounds, 
 which has much encouraged me. I mean to think of 
 my health first, in all my movements for the next few 
 months, and will let you know my plans as soon as any 
 are formed. Ever yours, FRANK BARTLETT. 
 
 Early in 1876, he decided to go to Europe for 
 a few months, but he was delayed a good deal by 
 a severe illness, which seized him in New York 
 while he was on his way to Richmond to put the 
 Powhatan property there in such condition that 
 he might feel at liberty to leave it. The follow- 
 ing letters were written before he sailed. 
 
 N. Y. HOTEL, January 20. 
 .... I have been detained here a week, not well 
 
 enough to go on to Richmond The Tredegar 
 
 failure probably puts us hors du combat. I am not very 
 depressed. I made up my mind to the worst two years 
 ago, and have been so near the bottom ever since that I 
 had n't far to fall. 
 
 RICHMOND, VA., February 5, 1876. 
 
 .... My doctor in New York, Stimpson, says just 
 what Paddock and the others have said, that I have no 
 organic disease that will kill me if I stop now But my 
 nerve force is exhausted, and I have used my strength 
 faster than I have made it. Complete rest and change
 
 284 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 will restore my general health, and with that restored 
 the other troubles will disappear. This all sounds well, 
 and I hope it is so. There have been times, though, 
 this last month, when I should not have dared to go to 
 Bea, but felt that what little of life there was left must 
 not be spent away from home. I am feeling somewhat 
 better and stronger, and now look hopefully to being 
 
 able to get away on the Russia, March 1st I 
 
 find things here about as bad as possible, although we 
 have reduced our number and amount of debts very 
 much since last August, when it seemed as if we must 
 stop. The failure of the Tredegar throws their paper 
 on to us, and on to me individually, as the banks would 
 not discount without two names, and I have had to do 
 this thing for two years to carry the concern along, sup- 
 posing, of course, that this depression in business and 
 ruinous prices were temporary and not to last forever. 
 I have the bonds of the company as security for my in- 
 dorsements and loans, and if the banks and other cred- 
 itors look at the matter sensibly, and are ready to take 
 their chance with me, who am, in fact, the largest cred- 
 itor, they will eventually get all their money. I have 
 succeeded in paying off all the hands and employees and 
 small creditors, who could n't afford to lose or wait, and 
 on Monday the company will suspend payment. If the 
 Tredegar had not failed, I think we might have pulled 
 through, but I should have had to do the pulling, and I 
 am not in condition to do it. I am taking the thing very 
 calmly now. I think I went all through the agony of it 
 two years ago, and have been getting used to looking it 
 in the face ever since. 
 
 If I only felt as strong and well, even as I did three
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 285 
 
 years ago, I should not mind it so much, for I could get 
 some work to do, or some position that would give me a 
 living; but now I must follow your advice stop work 
 get my health and strength again first, and then trust 
 to finding work to do when I come back. If I do not 
 get well and fit for work speedily, why the sooner I am 
 
 quietly "planted," the better 
 
 Ever yours, FRANK BARTLETT. 
 
 RICHMOND, VA., February 14, 1876. 
 
 .... Jersey seems to promise a good deal 
 
 I think a month there will pick me up. I shall be gov- 
 erned by how I am when I get over, if I get over. If 
 I don't, I '11 try to keep above water till you get back, 
 dear old man, to take you by the hand 
 
 PITTSFIEI;D, February 24, 1876. 
 .... I am better since I left Richmond and dropped 
 
 the oar Some days, though, I certainly do feel a 
 
 little shaky about going. It is such an irrevocable step 
 after that ship leaves the dock. But we must hope for 
 the best, and it seems the only thing for me to do, so I 
 hope to give you good news of myself about the 15th 
 of March 
 
 He sailed from New York for Liverpool on the 
 1st of March. He was unfortunate in having 
 an unusually rough and stormy voyage, and the 
 spring in Europe was very cold and raw. He 
 sailed from Liverpool on the 27th of May, and 
 Arrived in New York on the 7th of June. His 
 trip did not do him the good that had been hoped.
 
 286 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 He had waited too long before setting out. His 
 wonderful powers of rallying seemed to have de- 
 serted him. Sometimes he was like his old self, 
 and he was always patient, uncomplaining, and 
 even cheerful, but he was generally feeble and 
 averse to exertion of every kind. He slept much, 
 and often dropped asleep by day, as if from sheer 
 exhaustion. The following letters give a suffi- 
 cient description of his experiences : 
 
 CROXLKT HOUSE, March 23, 1876. 
 
 1 received your letter from Paris at the Hoodies' in 
 Liverpool, where I stayed ten days after landing from a 
 very rough passage. The worst the Russia ever saw, 
 her officers said, and so much sea aboard constantly that 
 I could not be on deck at all. So I really did not pick 
 up as much from the voyage as I had hoped to do, but 
 I was able to telegraph Agnes from Queenstown, Friday 
 p. M., that notwithstanding a beastly passage I had stood 
 it very well, and was better. This all went in one word 
 under a code I wrote out before leaving. Since I landed, 
 the weather has been simply atrocious. It has actually 
 snowed every day until to-day, and I would not give odds 
 that it won't yet, though the sun is trying to get out. 
 I envy you Rome, and I should have gone directly on 
 to the nearest warm spot had I not felt the necessity of 
 resting at Hoodies'. I came down here the 21st, and 
 shall go to London to-morrow and start for Jersey the 
 first of the week. I am certainly better in some things. 
 I am free from that dreadful pain in my lost foot which 
 had tortured me for two or three months, and that lets 
 me sleep o' nights, so that I am doing a good deal of
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 287 
 
 that. I have breakfast in bed, and doze on until nearly 
 noon before turning out. My appetite is decidedly 
 better, for I do not loathe the sight of food as I did for 
 weeks ; indeed, I believe I am really glad when meals 
 are announced. I give you all these details at the risk of 
 being tiresome. I wish I could add that I am feeling 
 stronger than when I left home, but I suppose I must 
 not expect too much in so short a time. I will write you 
 from Jersey when I get settled. I have n't felt up to 
 writing any one lately. Let me hear when you have a 
 spare ten minutes. 
 
 Ever yours, FRANK B. 
 
 HOTEL DE LA POMME D'OR, ST. HELIERS, 
 JERSEY, April 2, 1876. 
 
 This is only a line to say that I got here safely and 
 am inclined to think I shall like the place. The weather 
 has not let me out till within a day or two. I am about 
 the same as when I wrote to you. My chief motive for 
 writing you thus hastily is, to urge your not staying in 
 Rome. I find myself worrying about you all the time. 
 It has been deadly this year, and much is concealed. I 
 am demoralized about Rome, after seeing two men in 
 London who have been there most of the winter. Don't 
 go out and get all tired out sight-seeing and go without 
 lunch and stand in cold churches and galleries and do 
 other imprudent things, which the natives and the long 
 residents there don't do. And come away from there 
 quam primum to Florence, or Venice, or anywhere. 
 
 Hastily, but seriously and earnestly, 
 
 Your loving FRANK.
 
 288 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 CROXLEY HOUSE, 
 RICKMANSWORTH, HEUTS, May 8, 1876. 
 
 I was thrown rudely on these shores yesterday by those 
 villainous seas that roll between us to-day, and I have 
 vowed never to cross the Channel again till the tunnel is 
 finished. It was clear, but very cold, and blew a perfect 
 gale, from northeast, I should say, and we were simply 
 rolled over and over, completely wet through. Don't let 
 Lou, or don't you, wear anything that salt water will hurt, 
 My beautiful new pea-jacket looks as if it had been in a 
 flour barrel, covered with salt. The cabin was full and 
 close and foul, everybody sick. I tried to be, but did n't 
 succeed, except in leeling like death, and was more dead 
 than alive when I crawled up the steps at Folkestone. 
 
 If it is at all bad or windy weather, I advise you by 
 all means to go by Calais, as the boats are larger and 
 more comfortable, and I didn't find the getting up at 
 that hour a bit of trouble. The sunrise was lovely and 
 the morning air sweet and refreshing. Charles very 
 kindly helped me off and saved me many steps and 
 much trouble. I made close connection at Euston Sta- 
 tion and caught George's train, and was glad enough to 
 get out of my damp salt clothes, after reaching Croxley, 
 half an hour before dinner. 
 
 I slept well, and feel to-day only as if I had been on a 
 bad spree, and as if I had a left foot which somebody 
 was knifing. I suppose it comes from cold yesterday, 
 and I don't believe it will stay long. Bright and cold to- 
 day; real good winter weather outdoors, but not inside, 
 for there isn't a thermometer in the house that stands 
 over 50 .... 
 
 With loads of love. Always yours, "W. F. B.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 289 
 
 Journal, June 7, 1876. At the dock this morning 
 early. Beautiful day. An American day, and thank 
 
 God I am safely back here again I am so glad 
 
 to be at home again. There is no place on earth like it, 
 and I thank God for bringing me through dangers seen 
 and unseen. 
 
 His life was prolonged for a little more than six 
 months after his arrival in America, but his 
 course was steadily downward. He never after- 
 wards seemed so strong as on the day when he 
 left the ship. His decline was not without some 
 of those periods of apparent improvement which 
 are common to consumptive patients, and he 
 sometimes seemed at least to be encouraged, and 
 to hope for something approaching permanent 
 improvement, but from time to time he fell away 
 in a marked manner, and the rally which followed 
 was never sufficient to bring him back to the 
 point which he had left. He wrote at first such 
 hopeful and cheerful letters as the two which fol- 
 low, but the next one shows his growing weak- 
 ness. His longed-for visit to Cohasset was post- 
 poned at first, and then given up. After the 
 latter part of July he seldom, if ever, wrote a 
 letter, and his journey ings were limited to short 
 drives, and they too, soon ceased. 
 
 PITTSFIELD, June 14, 1876. 
 
 This is the first moment I have had pen in hand since 
 I saw you, and I naturally send you the first word. I 
 19
 
 290 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 found myself pretty well tired the day after I got home, 
 and have kept very still ever since, gaining every day 
 since Saturday last I dare say it was the sudden 
 change of temperature, or the fatigue and reaction, but 
 now I am much better, and really feel stronger every 
 day under this lovely sunshine and luxuriant foliage. 
 
 Oh, Frank, was n't the country more lovely than you 
 ever saw it, that afternoon as you got out of New York ? 
 I went up by the Housatonic, and as the sun set be- 
 hind one range of hills, and after an hour or two a su- 
 perb moon burst out from behind an opposite range, 
 I thought that those Englishmen who landed with us 
 must fancy this a land of enchantment 
 
 But, dear Frank, it is lovely to get home and enjoy 
 the lovely sunshine filtered thro' the elms. We sit on 
 the piazza constantly, and I fancy that you enjoy yours 
 more than ever before 
 
 Dr. Paddock thinks I am decidedly better than when 
 I went away, and he has seen me only in my played-out 
 condition of the last week. To-day I am more like my- 
 self than any day since we landed (he has not seen me 
 for two days), and feel perfectly confident now of going 
 on gaining. The country never looked half so lovely. 
 
 " Every prospect pleases and only man is vile," as I 
 fear we shall hear from Cincinnati to-morrow. 
 
 I have not had a business letter, and should not have 
 opened it if I had. The break from that worry is com- 
 plete still, and I don't mean to take it up till I am much 
 better able to. Meantime, keep your ears open for some 
 situation for a sober and industrious young man next 
 fa'l ; no objection on account of large salary and little 
 work. Always your devoted 
 
 FRANK.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 291 
 
 PITTSFIELD, June 26, 1876. 
 
 .... I have your kind letter, dear , and I 
 
 Deed n't say how I appreciate your efforts to put me in 
 the way of work, nor how eagerly I look for something 
 to do that shall help me keep the wolf from the door. 
 I am gaining under the lovely June skies, and am look- 
 ing forward to going down to Cohasset about the 10th 
 July. Lovingly yours, 
 
 FRANK. 
 
 PITTSFIELD, July 17, 1876. 
 
 I am going on about the same, one day up, the next 
 down. As soon as I am well enough, I am going down 
 to Cohasset. I think the cough is decidedly better; 
 appetite seems to be the main thing wanting now. I 
 think if I could see something ahead for me to do, it 
 would be an incentive and encouragement. And I have 
 reached that point in thinking about myself that the 
 man had who admitted that he did wish his wife would 
 either get well, or, or something. You will be sur- 
 prised to hear we are about moving back into our own 
 house. It was too late in the season when I came home, 
 I suppose, for I have not been able to rent it, and it 
 seems better that we should occupy it than have it stand 
 vacant. It will be cooler, and, in all ways, more com- 
 fortable than this house, and not necessarily more ex- 
 pensive to run. Still, if I could rent it for a term of 
 years, at a fair price, I should do so, and take a more 
 humble dwelling. 
 
 It is n't going to be a very serious task to move, as 
 everything is in a small space here, and there is no fur- 
 niture to move. Ever yours, FRANK.
 
 292 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 The following extracts from a letter from Mrs. 
 Bartlett, dated August 29, 1876, show his condi- 
 tion at that time, the activity of his mind, and 
 the interest which he continued to take in public 
 affairs. 
 
 Frank has a better appetite than for a good while, 
 and lives on birds, principally woodcock, of which he 
 manages one for his dinner, with great ease, nearly 
 every day. His digestion seems to be improving, and 
 a slow though perceptible gain made each day. Frank 
 is taking the electric baths, and they seem to benefit 
 him. He did not suppose you would believe the report 
 of that interview in the " Post," to be correct. He had 
 no idea that a verbatim report was intended", for the 
 man took no notes, and Frank requested him not to 
 " spread " him, and he supposed that he would merely 
 announce what he did tell him, in general terms, that he 
 was earnestly in favor of Tilden's election. He failed, 
 however, to state what Frank particularly told him, that 
 he was a strong Bristow man, and should have supported 
 him with enthusiasm, had he not been beaten at Cincin- 
 nati by the men who control the Republican party, 
 whom he hopes to see deposed this fall. Frank felt 
 much annoyed, by it, but believed that those friends 
 whose opinion he valued most would take the same 
 view of it that you did. 
 
 By the 10th of September, he was passing most 
 of his time in bed, but dressed and sitting up in 
 the afternoon. The sweet, serious expression of 
 Uis face was unchanged, his voice was firm, and
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 293 
 
 the grasp of his hand strong, but his breathing 
 was audible and rather quick, and his face and 
 throat were pitifully thin. 
 
 On the 24th of the same month, a daughter 
 was born to him. She was named Edith, after 
 the lost sister whom he so tenderly mourned. 
 
 For the rest of his life he was simply waiting. 
 His sufferings were very great, but they were borne 
 with absolute fortitude and sweetness. The pow- 
 ers of his mind remained unimpaired to the last, 
 and his cheerful playfulness did not desert him. 
 On the 6th of November he proposed to have his 
 little daughter christened, and in sending to invite 
 a valued friend to be present, he asked that it be 
 suggested to him (election day coming just then, 
 and the friend being an anti-Tilden man) that 
 they could " pair off ; " that if his friend would 
 not vote, he would not. 
 
 The christening took place in his room on the 
 appointed day, and after that he partook of the 
 communion. In all these days, as his strength 
 permitted, he talked freely and unreservedly with 
 his beloved wife about the future, and told her 
 what he wished done abjout many things. Hard 
 as all this was, he told his wife that it would be an 
 inexpressible comfort to her afterwards, and she 
 was brave and firm enough to go through with it. 
 He told her that if he should be spared, and if 
 strength should be given him again, no harm was 
 dorzo that they had talked of his going, and that
 
 294 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 if he went soon, he was sure she would never 
 regret what then seemed so very hard to bear. 
 
 In the last month of his life there was almost 
 always towards night some exhausting turn, and 
 his evenings were full of weariness. His foot and 
 ankle began to swell, and such symptoms de- 
 stroyed any hope, if such there were in any heart, 
 of any real improvement. Feeble and exhausted 
 as he was, his mind was actively occupied, and 
 even minute details received his careful attention. 
 He had directed that he should be buried in his 
 uniform of a Major-general, and he wished to 
 leave to his three sons and his most valued friend 
 the four silver stars which he wore upon his 
 shoulders ; and he caused to be procured four stars 
 of like appearance to take their place upon his 
 uniform, when it should be placed upon him, never 
 to be taken off again. 
 
 There is no need of describing his sufferings 
 more fully. They were very great and very vari- 
 ous, but such relief as the most tender care could 
 yield was not wanting. He had the untiring de- 
 votion of his wife from the time when her recov- 
 ery from her confinement made it possible for her 
 to resume her place at his bedside, and all through 
 the period of her separation from him, and to the 
 end, he had the added happiness of having his 
 mother with him. The wise and watchful nursing 
 of these two admirable women was an unspeakable 
 comfort and blessing to him, and their strong self-
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 295 
 
 control united with his grand endurance to make 
 the sick-room always a cheerful place. Death 
 from consumption is a long and sore trial, which 
 many loving hearts have had to watch with pity. 
 In his case, the burden was made heavier by the 
 physical pain which followed the loss of his leg, 
 and by the distress of mind which flowed from his 
 misfortunes in business. All his efforts had been 
 unsuccessful. All that he had, and more, had 
 been swept away, and he had to face the prospect 
 of leaving his wife and his six children utterly 
 unprovided for. Fortunately, these facts became 
 known in time to enable his friends to relieve 
 his worst anxieties, and nearly three weeks be- 
 fore he died he knew that a modest subsistence 
 was secured to his family. This knowledge eased 
 and lightened his heart, and, as he said, made it 
 much easier for him to go. 
 
 From the 10th of December the change was 
 more rapid ; but, though his weakness was great, 
 he was in many respects more comfortable. On 
 Sunday, the 17th of December, 1876, he called 
 his family and nearest friends around him, spoke 
 words of comfort and encouragement and farewell 
 to them all, and then passed peacefully away. 
 
 On Wednesday, December 20th, the coffin con- 
 taining the body of the General, dressed in his 
 uniform, was borne from his house to the hearse, 
 and from the hearse to the church, by six of his 
 comrades in the war. The quiet of the town and
 
 296 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 the throng in the church bore testimony to the 
 general sense of loss. After the burial service 
 had been read, one of the officiating clergymen 
 came down to the side of the bier, and paid a 
 touching and feeling tribute to the worth of the 
 departed as a man and as a Christian. Just as 
 the sun of a cold, bright, still winter day was set- 
 ting, he was lowered into the grave made for him 
 in the Pittsfield Cemetery, and left to his rest in 
 the pure silence of the snow. 
 
 " The Massachusetts of this generation has bred 
 no so heroic a character as that of the man whom 
 she will bury, with sadness and with honor, in 
 Berkshire, this week." These are understood to 
 have been the words of a man now no more, 
 who knew General Bartlett well, and who had in 
 his day few equals in judging of character. It 
 is hoped that the story of a life has been so told 
 in the foregoing pages, that the judgment of the 
 reader will confirm this high estimate. 
 
 The qualities which first attracted attention 
 to the subject of this memoir, were bravery and 
 judgment. Bravery is always a fascinating qual- 
 ity ; but, fortunately for mankind, it is not rare. 
 In his first engagement, Bartlett showed not only 
 courage, but coolness and nerve, and it was per- 
 ceived that there was an old head upon the young 
 shoulders of the gallant soldier. As the war went 
 on, those who were near him recognized i i him 
 the possession of clear faculties and absolute integ-
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 297 
 
 rity, as well as brilliant bravery and a mind that 
 remained equal in the midst of difficulties, while 
 those who perhaps never saw him were struck 
 with admiration at beholding the tenacity of pur- 
 pose with which he went back to the field after 
 so many enforced absences. After the return of 
 peace, his neighbors were charmed with the vir- 
 tues and graces of his private life, and had con- 
 stant proofs that the accomplished soldier was a 
 citizen of great and growing usefulness. His in- 
 terest in what is most valuable to every commu- 
 nity, in religion, in education, in the elevation of 
 politics, in true reform, was always fresh. What- 
 ever his sufferings or his weariness might be, 
 whatever the demands of business or the anxieties 
 of narrowing means, he was always ready to lend 
 a helping hand to every cause which his clear 
 eyes saw to be a good one. As the years of his 
 life drew near their end, his sudden eloquence 
 thrilled many listeners, and thousands of hearts, 
 North as well as South, were touched at the spec- 
 tacle presented by the crippled hero, the first to 
 counsel reconciliation with those whose arms had 
 shattered the promise of his life. His patriot- 
 ism was true patriotism. His love of country 
 embraced the whole country. His absolute devo- 
 tion to the flag made him eager that every Amer- 
 ican should love and honor that flag as he did. 
 
 The impression which General Bartlett made 
 upon those who knew him only by reputation,
 
 298 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANC13 BARTLETT. 
 
 was deepened in those who saw him, by the rich 
 gifts of nature. His figure was tall, slender, and 
 erect, his head small and well set, his eyes clear, 
 his features well cut and full of character, his 
 carriage conspicuous by its grace and dignity. 
 There was about him altogether a certain stately 
 air which the New England men of this genera- 
 tion have hardly seen equaled. A share of com- 
 posure and reserve was natural to him, but his 
 manners were courteous and his smile engaging. 
 His voice was deep, full-toned, and powerful. He 
 was a born leader of the best men, and he had 
 large endowments for controlling the worst. The 
 fatality which attended his military career, he 
 never went into action but once without being dis- 
 abled, deprived him of the opportunity of show- 
 ing what he could do in the exercise of a large 
 command, but he proved himself to be not only a 
 most gallant, but a most useful soldier. He was 
 very successful in establishing discipline, improv- 
 ing drill, developing and maintaining tone, and 
 by doing thoroughly well whatever was given 
 him to do, he gave the best assurance possible that 
 if the fortune of war had been but commonly 
 favorable to him, he would have been found equal 
 to the high places of command. The men who 
 served under him feel and say that the memory 
 of his heroic character is apt to make them better 
 men, and that their love for him and devotion 
 to him were complete. The chaplain of his last
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 299 
 
 regiment, an excellent and accomplished clergy- 
 man, speaks lovingly of his gentle modesty, of 
 his grave dignity, of his magnetism as a leader, 
 of his kindness aud his inflexible justice, and 
 adds the interesting fact that this intrepid man 
 never went into action without a certain present! 
 ment of extreme suffering or death. 
 
 Wherever he went he was observed. Wher 
 ever he was known he was admired and loved. 
 His life was a blessing to those among whom he 
 lived. One of the last letters he received con- 
 tained this tribute to his usefulness : " Some men 
 do their best life-work in the influences of nobler 
 manhood that go forth from them, the vague, 
 unrealizable, but most potent of all works. How 
 many are truer and better men for your influ- 
 ence, my dear friend, you may not know. Your 
 life is already in many another man." 
 
 While he laid hold of the enthusiasm of the 
 educated and refined, he had equal success in en- 
 gaging the affections and winning the respect of 
 the rough foundrymen in his employ. His strict 
 discipline did not alienate them. His will was law 
 to them, but they found him sympathetic, prompt 
 to visit their homes when they were sick or in 
 trouble, and ready to help them according to his 
 means. As his trusted foreman said, " his great 
 \ieart could take in the lowly." 
 
 Of his domestic character it is not necessary 
 to add to the showing of his letters and journals.
 
 800 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 In his friendships, when his friendship was given, 
 he was more like a lover than a friend. To those 
 who knew him thoroughly, his life filled a place 
 and his death left a void such as are not likely to 
 be paralleled in a single human experience. 
 
 As early as 1864, at the sword presentation at 
 Winthrop, Governor Andrew pronounced him 
 the most conspicuous soldier of Massachusetts in 
 the Department of the Gulf. When the war 
 ended, he was the most conspicuous soldier of all 
 whom Massachusetts sent to the field. In the 
 years which followed, his career was so useful and 
 BO brilliant as to give good reason for believing 
 that, had his life been spared, the most conspicuous 
 soldier of Massachusetts would have been one of 
 the most honored and beloved of her sons.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 OP the following tributes to the memory of General 
 Bartlett, the first is understood to have been written by 
 the late Mr. Bowles. It appeared in the " Springfield 
 Republican : " 
 
 GENERAL BARTLETT. 
 
 The recognition by the press of the heroic character- 
 istics of General Bartlett is quick and wide. We have 
 dwelt upon his qualities and his services, his opinions 
 and his acts, not only as an act of justice, but in the 
 belief that they furnish a greatly needed example, and 
 in the hope that from his grave there might go new and 
 richer influences, so that even dead he will yet speak 
 with more potent eloquence than ever. It is not given 
 to many men to have his simple, quick perception of the 
 kernel truth, or his equally simple and natural way of 
 speaking and acting it. It never seemed to cost him 
 anything to think rightly, or to speak and act what he 
 thought; it did itself, as it were; not only without hes- 
 itation or fear of the consequences, but without the rec- 
 ognition that there were any consequences that should 
 be considered. Few men are, indeed, so wonderfully
 
 302 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 endowed as this ; but all of us, by seeking, may find this 
 God of Truth. It was a conspicuous life that he lived 
 before his fellow-citizens in Massachusetts. No life so 
 impressive in its features, or furnishing so noble an ex- 
 ample, has been lived before us in this generation. But 
 :t was lived without his thought of its character or its 
 consequences to himself. And if he can live again in 
 any degree in the lives and characters of his comrades 
 and successors, of the young men who knew him or 
 have read his story and felt its inspiration, the dead 
 hero will be again the living hero, and the glory of his 
 life will take on at once its true immortality. 
 
 WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 OH, well may Essex sit forlorn 
 Beside her sea-blown shore ; 
 
 Her well beloved, her noblest born 
 Is hers in life no more ! 
 
 If early from the mother's side 
 Her favored child went forth, 
 
 Her pride so amply justified 
 Is in a hero's birth. 
 
 No lapse of years can render less 
 Her memory's sacred claim ; 
 
 No fountain of forgetfulnesa 
 Can wet the lips of fame.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETY. 303 
 
 A grief alike to wound and heal, 
 
 A thought to soothe and pain, 
 The sad, sweet pride that mothers feel 
 
 To her must still remain. 
 
 Good men and true she has not lacked, 
 
 And brave men yet shall be ; 
 The perfect flower, the crowning fact, 
 
 Of all her years was he ! 
 
 As Galahad pure, as Merlin sage, 
 What worthier knight was found 
 
 To grace in Arthur's golden age 
 The fabled Table Round ? 
 
 A voice, the battle's trumpet-note, 
 
 To welcome and restore ; 
 A hand, that all unwilling smote, 
 
 To heal and build once more ! 
 
 A soul of fire, a tender heart 
 
 Too warm for hate, he knew 
 The generous victor's graceful part, 
 
 To sheathe the sword he drew. 
 
 The more than Sidney of our day, 
 
 Above the sin and wrong 
 Of civil strife, he heard alway 
 
 The angels' Advent song ! 
 
 When Earth, as if on evil dreams, 
 Looks back upon her wars,
 
 304 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 And the white light of Christ outstreams 
 From the red disk of Mars, 
 
 His fame who led the stormy van 
 
 Of battle well may cease, 
 But never that which crowns the man 
 
 Whose victory was Peace. 
 
 Mourn, Essex, on thy sea-blown shore 
 
 Thy beautiful and brave, 
 Whose failing hand the olive bore, 
 
 Whose dying lips forgave ! 
 
 Let age lament the youthful chief, 
 
 And tender eyes be dim ; 
 The tears are more of joy than grief 
 
 That fall for one like him ! 
 
 John Greenleaf Whittier. 
 
 MILITARY ORDER, LOYAL LEGION, UNITED STATES 
 
 COMMANDERT OF THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF COMPANION BREA'ET MAJOR-GENERAL 
 WILLIAM F. BARTLETT, U. 8. VOLS. 
 
 Adopted at a stated meeting of this Commandery, held 
 on Wednesday, February 7, 1877. 
 
 " Our late Companion William Francis Bartlett, 
 Brevet Major-general U. S. Volunteers, died at Pitts- 
 field oil the seventeenth day of December, 1876.
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BART LETT. 305 
 
 " It is among the objects of our order to cherish the 
 memories and associations of the war waged in defense 
 of the Unity and Indivisibility of the Republic, to en- 
 force unqualified allegiance to the General Government, 
 and to maintain National Honor, Union, and Independ- 
 ence. 
 
 "We recognize in our late Companion one who was 
 foremost among the men of Massachusetts, both in war 
 and in peace, in supporting the Government and in 
 maintaining National Honor, Union, and Independence. 
 
 " We contemplate with pride his brilliant military 
 career, which entailed heavy sacrifices and sufferings 
 upon himself, but did not end till the war ended. Im- 
 prisonment, illness, and repeated wounds were alike 
 powerless to shake the absolute tenacity of purpose with 
 which he followed and upheld the Flag. From the 
 commencement of hostilities to the close, whenever his 
 physical condition would permit, he was always at the 
 front. 
 
 " From the humble position of a private in a militia 
 organization he rose to be a Division Commander. 
 Wherever he went, he enforced discipline, diffused the 
 soldierly spirit, cared thoughtfully and wisely for his 
 men, led them with conspicuous gallantry, shared all 
 their privations, and thought always first of their welfare 
 and of the welfare of his country. At Ball's Bluff, in 
 the Peninsular campaign, at the siege of Port Hudson, 
 in the Wilderness, and at the siege of Petersburg, his 
 record was that of perfect soldierly faithfulness ; our 
 enemies admired him, as well as his comrades and the 
 great Northern people for whom he fought so well. 
 Four years of fighting raised him to high rank in the 
 20
 
 806 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 army, and won for him a great name, but they left him 
 with a shattered constitution and a crippled frame, at 
 the age of twenty-five. 
 
 " We contemplate with equal pride and admiration the 
 civil career of our deceased Companion. In every re- 
 lation of his life he showed himself the true citizen and 
 the Christian gentleman. Graceful and stately in his 
 bearing, courteous in his manners, he moved among us a 
 man of correct and attractive example. Never allured 
 by the frivolous pleasures of life, he divided his time 
 between the cares of business and the relaxations of his 
 home. He was a devoted husband, a tender father, and 
 a faithful friend. The burden of pain and weakness 
 grew steadily heavier as his days went on, but it never 
 caused him to halt, and seldom to pause in his march. 
 The best and highest interests of the community always 
 enlisted his earnest and active sympathy, and he was un- 
 tiring in his efforts to promote them. The church, edu- 
 cation, and politics, especially political reform, all had a 
 share of his faithful service. By attentive observation 
 and patient thought, he freed his mind from the obscuring 
 influences of the passions of the hour, and came to enter- 
 tain broad and high views, and so learned to frame those 
 impressive sentences which, first spoken in Memorial 
 Hall, at once echoed through the land, and made his 
 grand voice known to South as well as North, as that 
 of one calling to large-hearted union and loyalty. 
 
 "The life of our deceased Companion was so full of 
 promise, as well as of performance, that our gratitude 
 for what he did, and for the influence of his example, is 
 mingled with deep regret for our loss of what might 
 have been his future. With proud and tender recollec-
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 tion, we record our testimony to our belief, that he was 
 one of the noblest of the soldiers and citizens whom 
 Massachusetts has numbered among her sons. 
 
 " Resolved, That these resolutions be entered upon 
 our records, and a copy of them sent to the family of 
 our deceased Companion." 
 
 The following words were spoken at General Bart- 
 lett's funeral by one who had known him well in his 
 earlier days, and who had been permitted during the last 
 months of his life to receive his most sacred confidences. 
 
 They refer chiefly to one subject, upon which, in his 
 letters, he has said but little, but which became more 
 and more prominent in his thoughts as his life drew 
 toward its close. That life's latest chapter was its sub- 
 limest ; to those who were nearest him during those last 
 days the memory of his faith has seemed as sacred a 
 trust as the memory of his deeds, and with this thought 
 in view they have wished to see added to the foregoing 
 pages this heartfelt testimony uttered at his burial. 
 
 A. L. 
 
 " It is not the custom, as you know, of our church, to 
 add to her burial service words of human eulogy or 
 human judgment. It is our wont to read, over the mor- 
 tal bodies of the rich and poor, the lowly and the great 
 Alike, the same words of Scripture ; to utter the same 
 prayers hallowed by centuries of use, and to commend 
 the immortal soul into His presence with whom is no 
 respect of persons, and before whom all must appear,
 
 308 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 
 
 alike unveiled, or clothed alike with the righteousness 
 of Christ. 
 
 " But there comes now and then a time when the world 
 is not content to let a hero pass from its sight without a 
 word of farewell ; and it falls to my lot, to-day, to speak 
 over one that has gone, on behalf of those who loved 
 him, a few words of tender remembrance. I am not 
 here to eulogize his record as a soldier ; that is graven 
 already upon your memories more deeply than any words 
 of mine could print it. I am not here to eulogize his 
 record as a patriot ; although you well remember that 
 when the war cloud lifted and around the sword was 
 twined the olive, no voice was sooner raised than his, 
 with no uncertain sound, in words of ' peace on earth, 
 good will toward men.' But my friends, his life had 
 another utterance, and from his sick room and dying bed 
 there goes out a testimony no less noble, no less real, 
 the lesson of a Christian faith. To this testimony it is 
 my privilege as a Christian minister to give voice, and 
 to say to you that his life at its close was no less elo- 
 quent than in its mid-career. He whom you have known 
 as a brave soldier in the field, died the ' good soldier of 
 Jesus Christ.' Great in his life, he was greater yet in 
 his death. When, laid upon his bed of sickness, he bore 
 unflinching the pain which racked his shattered frame ; 
 when, turning calmly away from the earthly honors 
 pressed upon him, he counted them as nothing ; when, 
 spite of home affection too tender to be spoken here 
 he calmly yielded to God's will ; when, a few short 
 weeks ago, he raised to his lips with a trembling hand 
 the sacramental cup, and his voice, still unbroken, sang 
 with humble penitence the words,
 
 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM FRANCIS BARTLETT. 309 
 
 " ' Jesus, Saviour of my soul, 
 Let me to thy bosom fly, 
 
 " ' All my trust on thee is stayed, 
 
 All my hope from thee I bring ' 
 
 I say that he was greater than when that same voice 
 rang out across the field of battle or spoke at Lexington. 
 
 l< And oh, my friends, with what power do such a life 
 and such a record speak to us of an hereafter ! You, 
 whose brain has come to teach you that there is no 
 hereafter, no resurrection of the dead, no life of the 
 world to come, does your heart rest satisfied with that 
 belief as you look upon him who lies here ? Are you 
 content with that position ? Is this all ? Do you mean 
 to say that when this gallant frame crumbles again to its 
 dust, the soul that has animated it is extinguished, like a 
 flame blown out ? That that soul's work is over ? That 
 the only immortality which remains for him is that of 
 living in the memory of men who die ? 
 
 " We, who share his faith, can tell you better ; that a 
 nobler career has begun for him ; that 
 
 " ' Doubtless unto him is given 
 
 A life that bears immortal fruit, 
 In such great offices as suit 
 The full-grown energies of heaven.' 
 
 And in this faith we leave him. In this sure and cer- 
 tain hope we lay him out of our sight. And we sum up 
 the lesson of his life with the words which these cold 
 lips might utter, could they speak : 
 
 "'I have fought a good fight; I have finished my 
 course ; I have kept the faith. Henceforth there remains 
 for me a crown of glory, one which fadeth not away.' "
 
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