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[20] themselves in the rear of the troops, after which there was little disorder. The four companies on reaching the Camden Street station were placed in the cars, the blinds were closed by order of Colonel Jones, and the regiment about 1 P. M. went on to Washington, being delayed, while still near Baltimore, by obstructions on the track. As a result of the day, four Massachusetts soldiers were killed by the mob: Addison O. Whitney of Lowell (born in Waldo, Me.), Luther C. Ladd of Lowell (born in Alexandria, N. H.), Charles A. Taylor (of unknown residence but enlisted in Boston), all belonging to Co. D, and Sumner H. Needham of Lawrence (born in Bethel, Me.), a member of Co. C. It is a curious fact that, while the bodies of the three other soldiers were brought home with honor and buried with municipal services in Lowell and Lawrence, that of Taylor was buried in an unknown grave in Baltimore, he being taken for a civilian, because of the absence of uniform. His loss was not even known until his overcoat was forwarded to the captain of his company by one who saw him fall. ‘No trace of his family or friends has ever been discovered . . . though a box was received from Boston a short time after the regiment left Baltimore.’1 So lately as July 21, 1894, the usually accurate Boston Transcript stated that only three Massachusetts men fell at Baltimore. Thirty-six were wounded, including Captain Dike of Stoneham, who was severely wounded in the thigh, was taken in and secreted in a hotel and was supposed to have been killed, and Lieutenants Lynde and Rowe, all of Co. L. The band was sent back to Boston and the unarmed Pennsylvania force to Philadelphia. Twelve of the Baltimore men were killed. War was fairly inaugurated by the shedding of blood, a thing which had not occurred during the contest at Fort Sumter.2 The 6th Mass. was unquestionably the first Union regiment to reach Washington, armed and equipped. It had, however, been preceded by a force from Pennsylvania, comprising five militia companies, mustering four
1 Hanson's 6th Regiment, p. 48. Governor Andrew ordered the bodies brought ‘tenderly.’
2 The best and most careful account of the whole affair at Baltimore is that entitled Baltimore and the 19th of April, 1861, by George Wm. Brown, chief judge of the supreme bench of Baltimore and mayor of the city in 1861. Colonel Jones's report may be found in Official War Records, I, 7, and in Adjutant-General Schouler's report for January, 1862; it is unexceptionable in tone, but is limited in value by the fact that he was not with the companies assailed on the march, and had to rely on hearsay. A modest and manly letter from Captain Dike may be found in Brown, p. 53, and one from Captain Follansbee in Hanson's 6th Mass., p. 40.
Boston, Wright & Potter, 1895-96.
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