[
195]
Chapter 24: the winter camp at Falmouth.
The men of the army were much depressed over the result of the
battle of Fredericksburg, but rest, better rations and the coming of the paymaster soon put them in a good frame of mind.
Lieut. Col. Devereux returned to the command of the regiment during January and
Capt. Henry A. Hale, having recovered from his wounds, reported for duty in command of Company B, on Jan. 1.
Second Lieut. Moses Shackley, of Co. B, returned from recruiting duty on Jan. 24.
First Lieut. Samuel S. Prime, worn out by the fatiguing campaigns, resigned on Jan. 21 and received an honorable discharge.
For the camp at
Falmouth, a place was chosen a short distance from the village, in a crescent shaped indentation in the hills which protected it from the northerly and westerly winds and, having a southern exposure, made the camp a very comfortable winter home.
There was a small space of open ground in front, which was used for a parade ground.
In front of this ran a creek, which, during the heavy rains, was impassable.
In consequence of this a bridge was thrown across and the men once more prepared for winter by logging up the tents.
The commissary department procured iron shields for the tops of the ovens and a regimental bakery was built,
Levi Woofindale, of Co. B, being appointed regimental baker.
By this appointment the men profited greatly, being supplied with soft bread of an excellent quality and often hot from the oven.
On Sundays baked beans were served and, in exchange for cash, the men could get brown bread and ginger bread.
After
Gen. Hooker took command the regiments were excellently provided for. Many stricken ones of earlier fields returned to the regiment and the wasted ranks gradually became better filled.
In addition to doing provost duty in the town, the regiment
[
196]
had to picket the river.
This made the duty constant and the men were either on provost duty in the town or at picket duty at the river every other day. Sometimes it would happen that they would have two days in succession on guard.
In consequence of this extra duty, very little drilling was done until after the
Chancellorsville battle.
There was very little restraint imposed upon the men and they were allowed, when off duty, to wander around the country considerably, which liberty was seldom abused.
In fair weather the picket duty was enjoyable.
The men kept on the best of terms with their gray ‘friends’ across the river and often conversed with them.
Some trading was done among them by means of pieces of boards, cut boat shape and provided with a sail, usually a newspaper, which could be exchanged on reaching the opposite shore.
In this way each side learned the news.
The chief commodities exchanged were tobacco from the
South and coffee from the
North, although other articles were sometimes sent over.
When the shad began to run, large details of the ‘Johnnies’ came down to the river to fish for them.
Large seines were used and the men, wading up to their chins in the cold water, would carry them around the fish.
They had one boat in use and sometimes rowed so near the northern shore that the
Union pickets could throw a stone into the boat.
The rebels watched the pickets sharply at these times but were never molested farther than to be invited to ‘come over and give us a shad.’
On one day when the regiment was on picket duty at the river, and had just formed line to return to camp,
Gen. Oliver O. Howard, in command of the division, rode up and made a short address in which he complimented the regiment very highly for the part it had taken in the
battle of Fredericksburg, and closed by saying, ‘Men of the Nineteenth Massachusetts, I love you. You have done nobly.
God bless you. Go on and continue to do as you have done.’
The men applauded him as he concluded.
While at
Falmouth, the men received many boxes from home.
Adjt. Hill received one which contained a turkey.
Unfortunately the box had been on the road for a long time and the bird was so mouldy that the meat was hardly visible.
The
[
197]
adjutant's good humor was superior to disappointment, however, and he at once arranged with the other officers to have the bird suitably interred.
The ‘corpse’ lay ‘in state’ during the day, and was properly ‘waked’ until midnight, when a number of officers assembled in line.
First came the largest negro in camp as drum major; then
Capt. ‘
Jack’
Adams as marshal, master of ceremonies and comb-band.
Behind him was
Quartermaster Winthrop, with reversed carbine, as firing party.
Directly behind him were four negroes, two large and two small, bearing between them two sticks upon which rested a cracker box,—the casket of the ‘deceased.’
Then came the mourners (officers who had anticipated eating the turkey), all so disguised that even their mothers would not have known them.
With bowed head and solemn mien, the sombre column moved with measured tread to the creek.
Capt. Adams, in his capacity of the band, was ‘combing out’ the
Dead March from
Saul.
As they reached the creek, filled to the brink by the recent rains, the column halted and the pall bearers deposited their burden upon the bank.
The others formed in half circle around it, with uncovered heads and then
Capt. ‘
Jack,’ after a few earnest words as to the goodness and virtue of the dear departed, cast the cracker box and its contents into the flood.
As the turbid waters bore it out of sight, the column re-formed, and, to the tune of
Yankee Doodle on the comb, marched back to camp.
From
Capt. Adams' Memoirs, the following interesting incidents are obtained:
‘One day a light snow had fallen and the men began to snowball each other.
Soon companies were engaged and the right and left wings of the regiment were pitted against each other.
I was with the left wing and we were holding our own when the drum corps re-enforced the right.
Up to this time ‘Headquarters’ had been spectators, but they became excited and joined the right wing.
With such reinforcements, the battle would soon be lost to us, but I remembered that some twenty of our negro servants were in the rear of the hospital tent and I went to them and offered bounty if they would enlist.
Having
[
198]
loaded every one with an armful of snowballs, I charged over the hill and attacked ‘Headquarters’ by the flank.
If any one doubts the bravery of colored troops, he should have seen my ‘Army’ that day. They rushed upon the foe, regardless of who he was. Their ammunition exhausted, they started on the charge, with heads down, and butted all before them.
‘Headquarters’ vanished.
The right wing gave way and the left held the field.
It was the first battle won by colored troops in the war and proved that they could fight if
well officered.’
During the month of January, 1863,
Assistant Surgeon B. F. Taft was transferred to the regiment from the Twentieth Massachusetts and
Assistant Surgeon Josiah N. Willard was promoted to be surgeon in the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery.
There were numerous changes among the men, also, the return for February showing that there were 52 enlisted men discharged for disability, on account of wounds, etc.
With
Col. Hinks,
Lieut. Col. Devereux,
Maj. Rice,
Adjt. Palmer and
Quartermaster Briggs all absent under surgeon's certificates, the regiment for some time was under the command of
Capt. Hale.
Capt. Boyd was acting
Major, and
First Lieut. Elisha A. Hinks was
Acting Quartermaster.
There was always a great deal of fun going on in camp, and the fact that the
senior officers were absent did not act as a curb upon the fun-loving men, by any means.
‘Goaks’ were played upon each other and sometimes even on the
commanding officers at dress parade.
The strains of
‘Doo-id-iddle, doo-id-iddle, do-id-iddle-dum’ even now recall amusing episodes,—to say nothing of the ‘Horse Show’ of February 22, when ‘
Lady Dupar,’ ‘Spike Tail’ and ‘
Palmer's Wood Box’ were put in view.
The ‘inauguration’ of
Moses Shackley when he received his
Second Lieutenant's commission, the blackberry jam from the sutler's tent, the court-martial in the Sibley tent on the hill,—all are recollections stored away on the tablets of the memory and once in a while are brought up and retold.
As spring approached the spirits of the men arose and with full stomachs they were once more ready to fight.
[
199]
The regiment did not make the ‘Mud March’ with
Burnside, but remained quiet until Spring.
The famous chalk sign—‘
Burnside stuck in the mud’ was plainly visible across the river, where it had been placed by some humorous rebel.
Gen. Hooker, who had been placed in command of the Army made himself very popular with the men. His first order to the troops had concluded.
‘We are here to fight and whip the enemy.
We will fight him wherever and whenever we find him. Our watchword will be Fight!
Fight! Fight!’
He granted furloughs and saw to it that the men had plenty of potatoes and other vegetables, the want of which had been severely felt.
On the warm spring days the more athletic among the men secured base balls and foot balls and had match games with those of the Seventh Michigan. One ball game was played for $60. a side.
The privates who played on the winning side received $10. each and the balance was spent for a supper, at which both clubs were present.
Gen. Hooker ordered a thorough inspection of every regiment and battery in the Army, being determined to ascertain its exact condition in all respects.
Lieut. Col. Devereux was selected as
Inspector of the second Division, second Corps.
At this time (March 16, 1863) the regiment had but 407 enlisted men, present and absent.
Only 217 were present for duty and even this small number included a goodly percentage of men on ‘Extra and Daily Duty.’
Capt. Mahoney, then in command of the regiment, wrote to
Gov. Andrew as follows:
Of the 170 absent enlisted men, most of whom are sick or wounded, many have already been discharged, not more than thirty of them will return to duty.
Experience has shown us that recruits, if placed in an old regiment and mingled in the ranks with veterans, behave as well in the field as old soldiers and we believe that if our regiment could be filled to the maximum, in a short time it could take the field in a better condition for active service than ever before.
If we go through another severe campaign with our present small number, our regimental organization will be almost extinct and if then recruited, it will be almost entirely a new regiment.
We are receiving no recruits at present but it is
[
200]
believed that if the regiment could return to
Massachusetts, that by the exertions of its officers and men, assisted by the
State authorities, it would be able in a few weeks to take the field again with six or seven hundred men, if not with full ranks.
We, therefore, respectfully request that you ask leave of the
Secretary of War to call the regiment to
Massachusetts for the purpose of recruiting its thinned ranks.
Respectfully submitted,
The result of the various regimental inspections was the re-establishment of the Army until it was in better condition than ever, so that when
Gen. Hooker determined upon a fresh movement, he had an army in perfect condition.
On April 6 there was a grand review before
President Lincoln and
Gen. Hooker, in which the Second Corps participated.
The
Chancellorsville campaign soon followed and in this the division to which the regiment belonged, then commanded by
Gen. Gibbon, was assigned to the assistance of
Gen. Sedgwick's Sixth Corps at
Fredericksburg.
Maj. Rice,
Adjt. Palmer,
Captains Mahoney and
Dunn, with
Lieutenants Hume, of Co. K, and
William Stone, of Co. G, had returned from leave on account of wounds and the roster showed the following changes when the regiment was ready to move again.
[
201]
| Second Lieut. John J. Ferris, promoted from 1st Serg. Co. E, to date Jan. 22, vice Adams, promoted.
On special duty in command Co. H. |
Co. E. | Capt. Andrew Mahoney, returned to duty Feb. 27.
On special duty, acting as Field Officer. |
Co. G. | Capt. C. M. Merritt, on detached service, serving on Brig. Gen. Martindale's staff. |
| First Lieut. Dudley C. Mumford, disabled by a sprain. |
| Second Lieut. William Stone, returned to duty Mar. 27, in command of Co. G. |
Co. H. | Second Lieut. Thos. F. Winthrop, promoted from Q. M. Sergt. to date Dec. 21, vice Chubbuck, promoted.
On special duty, acting Quartermaster. |
Co. I. | First Lieut. J. G. B. Adams, promoted from 2nd Lieut. to date Jan. 22, vice Prime, discharged.
In command of Co. I. |
| Second Lieut. Herman Donath, promoted from Sergt. Major, to date Dec. 13, vice Claffey, killed in action.
On special duty in command Co. B. |
Co. K. | Capt. H. G. O. Weymouth-leg amputated. |
| First Lieut. Lysander J. Hume, returned to duty Mar. 1. |
| Second Lieut. Chas. H. Wellock, absent. |
Lieut. Col. Devereux returned to duty with the regiment on April 1st, and on April 5th, First
Lieut. Elisha A. Hinks was recorded as having been placed on detached service as A. D. C. to his brother,
Brig. Gen. Edward W. Hinks.
Capt. J. F. Plympton, of Co. I, returned to duty during the first week in April, and
Asst. Surgeon William D. Knapp, appointed by
Gov. Andrew, also joined the regiment.
A few changes occurred in one or two of the companies about this time.
Capt. Charles U. Devereux, of Co. H, was discharged on
Surgeon's Certificate on account of wounds, together with
Second Lieut. Charles P. Abbott, of Co. C.
Capt. John C. Chadwick, of Co. C, and
Second Lieut. James B. Moore, of Co. F were discharged for promotion to
Ullman's brigade.
Second Lieut. John J. Ferris, of Co. D, was placed in command of Co. H.