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Chapter 19: at Bolivar Heights.
The day after the
battle of Antietam was one of inactivity and rest.
There was some artillery firing but no one in the Nineteenth Massachusetts was hurt.
During the day a party came out from the enemy's line in front, under a flag of truce, and were met by officers of the regiment.
Arrangements were made by them to bury the dead between the lines and the enemy asked that a party be sent inside their lines to care for Union wounded and bury the dead.
Such a detail was furnished.
Inside their line
Jacob Hazen of Company C was found mortally wounded, and he died before the detail got through its labors.
On September 19 the regiment marched 16 miles to Bolivar Heights, fording the
Potomac at
Harper's Ferry, at the same place it had crossed in the spring.
Here on September 22, the command went into camp on the same ground where it had stopped in the previous march and from which it had started to join the army of the Potomac, not one foot nearer
Richmond for all the hard marches and desperate fighting.
It was not an encouraging thought.
The tents were pitched on the side of the hill.
Maryland Heights towered grandly on one side, while
Loudon sheltered the other side and the front was covered by
Bolivar.
The position was like a triangle, the sides being the various Heights, while the openings made by the
Potomac and the
Shenandoah formed the angles.
The work of recuperating the Nineteenth commenced at once.
It was rumored that the regiment was going home to recruit, but those who still took stock in camp stories were doomed to disappointment, as on Oct. 9 a large number of recruits
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were received instead.
These men had darker coats than the regulation pattern and this caused many of them severe wounds and some their lives later at the
Battle of Fredericksburg, the rebels thinking they were officers.
After the
battle of Antietam Lieut. Col. Devereux secured leave of absence for ten days on account of death in his family, and the command came into the hands of
Capt. H. G. O. Weymouth.
A number of changes occurred in the regiment in September.
Capt. Edmund Rice, absent from wounds, was promoted to major;
Capt. Ansel D. Wass was discharged to enable him to be commissioned as
Lieutenant Colonel of the 41st Massachusetts regiment;
First Lieut. William L. Palmer, of Company I, was appointed Adjutant, vice
John C. Chadwick, promoted to
Captain of Company C in place of
Capt. Bachelder killed in action.
First Lieut. Oliver F. Briggs, of Company K, was made
Regimental Quartermaster, vice
Shaw discharged.
First Lieut. Isaac H. Boyd was in command of Company A;
Capt. Hale and
First Lieut. Reynolds, of Company G were absent on account of wounds, and
Second Lieut. Thomas Claffey was in command.
Company C had
John C. Chadwick, formerly Adjutant of the regiment as
Captain, and
Edgar M. Newcomb as
First Lieutenant.
In Company E
First Lieut. Elisha A. Hinks who had been transferred from Company B, was absent from wounds.
Capt. James H. Rice, of Company F, who had been promoted from
First Lieutenant, vice
Edmund Rice, promoted to
Major, was absent from wounds, and the command of Company F was in the hands of
First Lieut. William H. Hill, who had been promoted from
Second Lieutenant, vice
Chadwick promoted.
Capt. James D. Russell, of Company G, who had been transferred from Company K, was absent, sick, and the command was in the hands of
First Lieut. Dudley C. Mumford, who had been promoted from
Second Lieutenant, vice
Shaw, discharged.
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The two wounded officers in Company H,
Capt. Devereux and
First Lieut. Albert Thorndike, had not yet returned to duty and that company was under the command of
Second Lieutenant William R. Driver.
Capt. Jonathan F. Plympton was in command of Company I, but
First Lieut. Samuel S. Prime, who had been transferred from Company C, was sick.
First Sergt. John G. B. Adams of Company A was promoted to
Second Lieutenant and assigned to Company H, vice
Mumford, promoted.
Captain H. G. O. Weymouth, of Company G, was transferred to the command of Company K and was in command of the regiment, leaving
First Lieut. Lysander J. Hume in command of the company.
Hume had been promoted from Second to
First Lieutenant, vice
James H. Rice, promoted.
In company K also,
First Sergeant Charles H. Wellock had been advanced to
Second Lieutenant, vice
Hill, promoted.
In Company H,
Second Lieut. Frederick F. Crofts had been dropped from the rolls by
Gen. Order 162, A. of P., Oct. 7, 1862, for being absent for three months without explaining the cause.
The promotions were richly deserved and were for gallantry and good conduct.
Hume,
Briggs and
Newcomb had thus each been promoted a second time for gallantry and
Sergeants Adams,
Driver,
Hill,
Wellock,
Claffey,
Chubbuck and
Tilton were advanced for like reasons.
Sergeants Charles P. Abbott and
William Stone were recommended for promotion for gallantry.
Private Thomas F. Winthrop of Company C was promoted to
Quartermaster Sergeant;
Patrick Hardy of Company E was transferred to Company K as Corporal;
Sergeant E. A. Hall, of Company F, was promoted to
Sergeant Major;
Corporal Hugh J. Carr was transferred to Company G as
Sergeant and
Private Edward Maloney of Company H, was transferred to Company E, as Corporal.
The gain to the various companies from unassigned recruits during the month of October had been 31; discharged from disability, 6; discharged by order, for re-enlistment in the regular service 8, dropped from the rolls, S. O. 162, A. of P., 159.
During the month the following had died of wounds received in action;
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Private Charles Tibbetts, of Company C, reported ‘Missing in Action’ at the
battle of Antietam, Sept. 17, had not yet returned.
During the history of the regiment up to this time, the colors had twice been triumphantly raised by a private when fallen from the death grasp of a comrade,—at
Glendale by
Peter O'Rourke, and at
Antietam by
Edward Z. Bailey, and both were made
Sergeants on the spot.
Five colors sergeants had been shot down while carrying the flag of the
Commonwealth.
Condition of the regiment at Bolivar Heights, Va., Oct. 13, 1862.
Company A | 35 |
Company B | 28 |
Company C | 28 |
Company D | 22 |
Company E | 28 |
Company F | 38 |
Company G | 35 |
Company H | 30 |
Company I | 37 |
Company K | 25 |
| 306 |
This included every man in the regiment capable of doing the light work of camp, and many of these were quite disabled and unfit for active service.
The outside limit of men who could march or fight was 200.
At Bolivar Heights the regiment took its ease and comfort and soon was ready for another battle.
The weather was glorious, the scenery as enchanting as any in
America.
The lovely mount of
Loudon, the rugged grandeur of
Maryland Heights, the swell of
Bolivar, the plain of
Charlestown, the
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western background of the
Blue Ridge and the beautiful junction of the
Potomac and the
Shenandoah formed a picture richer far than many scenes across the sea.
The men were put through a severe course of drill and this, with camp guard and picket, were the duties of the time.
Five glorious weeks were thus spent.
The army was refitted, material and personnel were repaired and soon everyone felt that a move was to be made.
The Nineteenth Maine regiment here joined the brigade.
It was a fine looking body of men, 1000 strong, and was clothed in full dress uniform, even to hat. The men made a fine showing as they marched on to the field.
Two notable events happened at this place,—
President Lincoln's review of the Army on the
Heights, and the issuing of his
Emancipation Proclamation, to take effect January 1st, 1863.
There were many solid shot and shells scattered around the camp, many of the latter charged.
One night three or four men of the new regiment were seated around a little fire, drinking coffee, their pots resting on some cannon balls, among which was an unexploded shell.
They were yet unacquainted with the innocent looking thing.
The weather was cool and they sat close to the fire, enjoying a ‘skin roast,’ when their pleasure was brought to a sudden termination by a blinding flash and a cloud of smoke and dust, followed by a report.
When it cleared away there were three or four white faces with bulging eyes, staring at the place where they had been cooking their coffee, but coffee, cup, fuel, fire and ashes had disappeared and a slight hollow in the ground where they had been was all there was to be seen.
They were probably more careful afterward what they used to cook on.
On Oct. 16, about fifteen regiments of infantry, besides cavalry and artillery, moved out toward
Charlestown, and soon afterward heavy firing was heard in that direction.
On the following day the men of the Nineteenth Massachusetts received orders to provide a day's rations and forty rounds of cartridges and to hold themselves in readiness to move at a moment's notice.
Nothing however, developed until Oct. 29, when three
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days rations and sixty rounds of cartridges were issued, and on the following morning tents were struck and everything made in readiness for a march.
The Roster on October 31 was as follows:
Commissioned officers present, | 20 |
On special duty, | 1 |
In arrest, | 1 |
| 22 |
Enlisted men, present for duty, | 325 |
On extra or daily duty, | 30 |
Sick, | 27 |
| 382 |
Commissioned officers absent, |
Wounded, with leave, | 8 |
Without leave, | 2 |
Sick, | 3 |
| 13 |
Enlisted men absent, |
On detached Service, | 1 |
With leave, | 1 |
Without leave, | 2 |
Sick, wounded, | 102 |
In arrest or confinement, | 0 |
Prisoners of War, | 2 |
| 108 |
Total: Present and absent: |
Commissioned officers, | 35 |
Enlisted men, | 490 |
Aggregate, | 525 |
Total last report, | 687 |
Recruits required, | 498 |