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John Hodges
Private 8th Mass. Vols. (Infantry), April 17-August 1, 1861; first Lieutenant 19th Mass. Vols., August 27, 1861–June 19, 1862; Major 50th Mass. Vols., November 8, 1862; Lieutenant-Colonel 59th Mass. Vols., February 7, 1864; killed at Petersburg, Va., July 30, 1864.John Hodges, Jr. was born in Salem, Massachusetts, December 8, 1841, the son of John and Mary Osgood (Deland) Hodges. He attended school in his native city until August, 1858, when he entered Harvard College as a Freshman. The coming national storm had already increased the interest in military matters in Massachusetts, and this rather interfered with his scholastic progress. In the middle of his Junior year he left college to return no more. The degree which he afterwards received was a compliment to his patriotism and success. Previous to the war he joined as a private the Salem Light Infantry, better known as the Salem Zouaves, where an unusually high standard of discipline was enforced and an uncommon proficiency attained. The rules of the company were rigid to the extreme, and Hodges showed his aptitude for true soldiership by the readiness with which he obeyed. When the first call for troops was issued in April, 1861, he eagerly hailed the opportunity. His company was attached to the Eighth Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, as right flank company, being detached from its proper regiment, the Seventh, for that purpose. There was much hard work and exposure to try the fortitude of the young soldier during those first three months of real service, though the regiment did not take part in any engagement. This campaign resembled a protracted picnic rather than the stern realities of war, so soon to follow. Floral decorations, flag presentations, boxes and visits from friends, and one enormous wedding-cake, varied the monotony and relieved the hardships of camp life in very essential particulars. More notable
