[154] for ‘more men’ roused him, and he felt that he could no longer tarry. He enlisted in the ranks of the Nineteenth Massachusetts Volunteers at its organization at Lynnfield in August, 1861, and was made a Corporal in Company F. In September, 1861, he was detailed as a clerk at the Headquarters of Brigadier-General F. W. Lander, commanding a brigade in the Corps of Observation, Poolesville, Maryland. On or about November 1st he was appointed Sergeant-Major of his regiment, and returned to duty with it. He subsequently passed with his regiment through fourteen battles and skirmishes, without receiving a wound; and the hard activities of army life had the effect to improve his health, and ‘built up his youthful person into the stalwart, sinewy frame of an athletic man.’ He was promoted to the rank of Second Lieutenant for gallant conduct while in action on the seven days retreat from Richmond, and assigned to Company C, then under command of Captain Batchelder. He won especial commendation on the part of his commanding officers at the battle of White Oak Swamp. One of his fellow-soldiers thus testifies:—
His bravery was so distinguished as to be the general subject of remark among men who were accustomed to regard all dangers as so many trivial things easily forgotten when passed . . . . . At Antietam he won his rank of First Lieutenant; and to have lived through the ordeal of that day was to have come from the very jaws of death.The religious zeal and integrity which had marked him in college characterized also his army life, but were never exhibited ostentatiously. The reports of his comrades in, arms, with a warmth of expression showing a depth of personal affection, unite in placing side by side his signal valor in the field and his eminent holiness in the camp. When his death gave prominence to all the incidents of his life, his family learned for the first time, what his letters never mentioned, that he had frequently officiated as chaplain of his regiment, preaching to the men and holding prayer-meetings. Captain Chadwick, who commanded Company C after the battle of Antietam, writes—
