Chapter 1: organization of the regiment.
The Nineteenth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was organized at ‘Camp Schouler,’ Lynnfield, with the three Companies of the First Battalion of Rifles as the nucleus, on July 23, 1861, having added to these three in succession, Capt. Wass's Tiger Zouaves, of Boston, Capt. Mahoney's Company, also from Boston, Capt. Weymouth's Company from Lowell and Cambridge, Capt. Plympton's Company from Boston, Capt. Russell's Company from Boston, Capt. Rice's Company from Cambridge and Capt. Wilson's Company from Boston. The field officers were: Edward W. Hinks—Colonel. Arthur F. Devereux—Lieutenant Colonel. Henry J. Howe—Major John C. Chadwick—Adjutant. Levi Shaw—Quarter Master. J. Franklin Dyer—Surgeon Josiah N. Willard—Assistant Surgeon. Joseph C. Cromack—Chaplain. Upon the muster out of the Eighth Regiment, Col. Hinks was immediately commissioned as Colonel of the Nineteenth, then in camp at Lynnfield and numbering about 390 men. He was mustered in on August 3, 1861, and rapidly recruited, organized and officered the Regiment. On the day after the Eighth Regiment reached Boston, Aug. 1, 1861, Capt. Arthur F. Devereux was mustered in as Lieutenant Colonel of the Nineteenth, having first been offered a Colonelcy in another regiment by Governor Andrew. Companies A. B. and C. were ordered into camp at Lynnfield, [2] to report to Colonel Lyman Dike, commanding, in accordance with Special Order No. 344 A. G. O., dated Boston, July 13, 1861. Capt. James D. Russell, Company D of Boston, was ordered ‘to report his command to Lyman Dike, Colonel commanding the Nineteenth Regiment at the Camp at Lynnfield,’ in accordance with special order No. 366, A. G. O., Boston, July 25, 1861. Company E, Capt. Andrew Mahoney, of Boston, was, by Special Order No. 348, dated A. G. O., Boston, July 15, 1861, ‘ordered to report with his command forthwith to Col. Dike, commanding, at Camp Schouler, Lynnfield.’ Company F, Capt. Edmund Rice, Cambridge, originally assigned to the Fourteenth Massachusetts Infantry, (and which by Special Order No. 365, dated A. G. O., Boston, July 2, 1861, had been included in the Companies ordered to compose the Twentieth Regiment,) was subsequently detached and assigned to the Nineteenth Regiment. Company G, Capt. H. G. O. Weymouth of Lowell, was transferred from the Second Regiment and assigned to the Nineteenth Regiment at Lynnfield. Company H, Capt. William H. Wilson, of Boston, was, by Special Order No. 356, dated A. G. O., Boston, July 19, 1861, ordered “to report with the men under his command to Col. Dike at Camp Schouler for orders, at half past 12 o'clock, on Saturday, July 12, 1861.” (This Company was disbanded in the field later and a new Company recruited.) Company I, Capt. Jonathan E. Plympton, was, with First Lieutenant Christopher C. Sampson, ordered ‘to report themselves, with the men under their command, at six o'clock this afternoon to Lyman Dike, Colonel commanding the Camp at Lynnfield’ per Special Order No. 363, dated A. G. O., Boston, July 25, 1861. Company K, Capt. Ansel D. Wass, known as the Boston Tiger Fire Zouaves, was subsequently added to the Regiment making ten companies and its complement. This latter company wore a Zouave uniform of light blue baggy trousers, yellow [3] leather leggins, with a jacket of darker blue, plentifully furnished with buttons, and a fez cap of the same color. Special Order No.369, dated A. G. O., Boston, July 27, 1861, designated Capt. Henry J. Howe, of Haverhill, a graduate of Harvard University, who had previously been commissioned in the Fourteenth Regiment, as ‘Major of the Nineteenth Regiment, now in Camp at Lynnfield.’ Special Order No. 370, dated A. G. O., Boston, July 29, 1861, orders ‘Lieutenant John C. Chadwick, of the Fourteenth Regiment, to act as Adjutant of the Nineteenth Regiment in Camp at Lynnfield until further orders, and to report to Major Howe, in command of said Regiment.’ The Nineteenth Regiment, despite all these special orders, was only a skeleton command. Its condition may be inferred from the following letter sent by Adjutant General Schouler to Governor Andrew on July 27, 1861: ‘There are but nine companies in the Nineteenth Regiment and most of them are without uniforms, and there are but 15 guns in the whole regiment. The men are much in want of clothes. There is but one drum in the entire camp and it is all the music they have.’ All this had occurred before the muster out of the Eighth Regiment from its three months service, which took place on August 1. Col. Hinks had achieved an enviable reputation at the head of this Regiment and was now free to accept his new command, which, by Special Order No. 387, dated A. G. O., Boston, Aug. 3, 1861, assigned him to the Nineteenth Regiment and to ‘assume command this day.’ The Special Order No. 387 also announced that the Nineteenth Regiment was ‘to be deemed the proper rendezvous for all members of the Eighth Regiment desirous of again enlisting in the service of the country.’ Captain Arthur F. Devereux, who had made a brilliant record at the head of the Salem Zouaves, a part of the Eighth Regiment, was a great favorite with Colonel Hinks, and under his immediate supervision, a new order of things was instituted in the work of drill and preparing the Regiment for service. For this purpose Lieutenant Colonel Devereux took with him a number of the Salem Zouaves to Lynnfield as drill masters. [4] When the Regiment was mustered into the United States Service, five of these Drill Masters were commissioned as Lieutenants, viz: John Hodges, Jr. to Co. B; John P. Reynolds, Jr. to Co. D; Henry A. Hale to Co. H; George W. Batchelder, to Co. C; and Wm. L. Palmer to Co. I. The Staff and Line were commissioned on Aug. 22. The roster follows: Field staff. Colonel, Edward W. Hinks, of Lynn; Lieutenant Colonel, Arthur F. Devereux, of Salem; Major, Henry J. Howe, of Haverhill; Surgeon, J. Franklin Dyer, of Gloucester; Assistant Surgeon, Josiah N. Willard, of Boston; Chaplain, Joseph Levi Shaw, of Rockport. non-commissioned staff. Sergeant Major, Samuel Baxter, of Newburyport; Quartermaster Sergeant Oliver F. Briggs, of Boston: Commissary Sergeant, Elisha A. Hinks of Orrington, Me.; Hospital Steward, William E. Barrows, of Andover; Principal Musician, Joseph L. Kendall, of Lynnfield; Leader of Band, John A. Spofford, of South Reading; Drum Major, Stephen J. Newman, Cambridge. Company A. Captain, Moses P. Stanwood, of West Newbury; First Lieut., Charles M. Merritt, of Lynn; 2nd Lieut., Isaac H. Boyd, of West Newbury. Company B. Captain, Elijah P. Rogers, of Newbury; First Lieut., John Hodges, Jr., of Salem; Second Lieut., James T. Lurvey, of Lowell. Company C. Captain, Joseph Scott Todd, of Rowley; First Lieut., George W. Batchelder, of Salem; Second Lieut., Samuel S. Prime, of Rowley. Company D. Captain, James D. Russell, of Boston; First Lieut., Moncena Dunn, of Roxbury; Second Lieut., John P. Reynolds, Jr., of Salem. Company E. Captain, Andrew Mahoney, of Boston; First Lieut., David Lee, of Lancaster, Pa.; Second Lieut., George M. Barry, of Boston. Company F. Captain, Edmund Rice, of Cambridge; First [5] Lieut., James H. Rice, of Brighton; Second Lieut., James G. C. Dodge, of Boston. Company G. Captain, Harrison G. O. Weymouth, of Lowell; First Lieut., Samuel D. Hovey, of Cambridge; Second Lieut., Dudley C. Mumford, of Medford. Company H. Captain, William H. Wilson, of Boston; First Lieut., Henry A. Hale, of Salem; Second Lieut., William H. LeCain, of Boston. Company I. Captain, Jonathan F. Plympton, of Boston; First Lieut., Christopher C. Sampson, of Boston; Second Lieut., William L. Palmer, of Salem. Company K. Tiger Fire Zouaves, of Boston; Captain, Ansel D. Wass; First Lieut., Eugene Kelty; Second Lieut., Edward P. Bishop. The recruits of the different companies, when they arrived at Lynnfield, caused many amusing things to occur. As yet unskilled in all the soldiers' arts, untaught in all, save the native courage of their race, these country boys promised little of their later fame. In many instances, the ‘non-coms’ were as verdant in matters of discipline and routine as were the men. A corporal, of ‘A’ Co. one day, in posting his relief, had one more man than he had posts, so he made a new post. The Officer of the Day asked him what he had done with the extra man. ‘I put him on in rear of the ice house,’ he replied. ‘Who gave you authority to do so?’ ‘Why, I supposed I was to use my men.’ Another time, as soon as the guards were posted they began calling for the Corporal of the Guard and asking him for a drink of water. He went to the Officer of the Day, asked if it was his duty to carry water to the men and was told that it was. Then for two hours he ‘toted’ the water pails for the guards. The officers of the companies were anxious to have the men learn the tactics as quickly as possible, and drill was on early and late. One of the captains was a very energetic officer in this respect, and long before daybreak, with his First Sergeant, he would turn out the recruits, and, as the other men [6] lay in their tents they could hear him calling, ‘Left! Left!’ and frequently it was ‘Sergeant, tread on that man's heels.’ When Col. Hinks and the new officers came, however, one of the Salem Zouaves was assigned to each Company as Drill Master, and it was soon evident that the three months of independent, hap-hazard drill had been worse than useless and was immediately begun over again in the regulation manner. The new officers went earnestly to work drilling the regiment and many a hard day was spent tramping over the field in company and battalion drill. The service began to be less like a picnic as each day passed, but the men were getting acquainted with the musket and receiving that preparation which was to be of great benefit to them in later years. On August 18, Colonel Hinks received the following letter:On August 26, 1861, the following order was issued:
In consequence of this, the following Special Order was issued:
The regiment was very fortunate in having one of the most skillful physicians in the Army for its surgeon, Dr. J. Franklin Dyer. He was a man of gentle temperament, but thorough in every detail of his position and became as highly appreciated in the brigade division and corps as he was in the regiment. He first attracted the attention of the Brigade by the skillful manner in which he took part in stamping out an epidemic of measles in the Seventh Michigan in the Fall of 1861 at Camp Benton, preventing its spread in the Brigade. He always looked after the sanitary condition of the camp with untiring zeal and this fact alone explains the healthy condition of the Nineteenth, often under very trying circumstances. Surgeon Dyer will be remembered both for his personality and for those qualities which, when found in a man of his ability, make a great surgeon.
