Twelve Months with the Eighth Massachusetts Infantry in the Service of the United States
In Beverly, business was suspended, and the citizens turned out en masse to bid good bye to Company E. The company was escorted by the Grand Army Post, Fire Department, school children, and a cavalcade of citizens.
At Haverhill, Company F and the Regimental Drum Corps were given a most enthusiastic send off. The company was escorted by the Grand Army Post and Sons of Veterans. Mayor Chase delivered a farewell address at the City Hall, after which the line of march was taken to the station, where a crowd, numbering fifteen thousand, witnessed their departure.
At Gloucester, Company G marched through lanes of cheering citizens, the escort consisting of the Grand Army Post, the Fourth of July Committee, the High School Battalion, and the Sons of Veterans. The procession was led by the Mayor. Hon. W. W. French presented the Company with a silk flag on behalf of citizens, and the gift was accepted by Captain Edward J. Horton for the company.
Salem witnessed scenes of enthusiasm as Company H marched away. The streets were packed, and thousands of small flags were waved by the cheering citizens as the company marched to the station, escorted by the Second Corps of Cadets, Grand Army Post, Naval Veterans, Letter Carriers and Clerks, the Salem Light Infantry Veteran Association, the Veteran Firemen Association, and a barouche containing among others, Francis D. Cahill, Salem's survivor of the Maine explosion. The Mayor and the City Government reviewed the parade at City Hall, and a large crowd packed the streets near the station to witness the train, containing the members of the company, pull out for Boston.
In Danvers, the people were early astir to give Company K a rousing farewell. It was escorted through the principal streets by a cavalcade, the Grand Army Post, High School Cadets, and a body of citizens.
Lawrence turned out in force to speed the departure of Company L. At the Armory, Rev. Dr. H. E. Barnes offered prayer, after which the men marched to the station escorted by the Grand Army Post and Battery C. As the train bore the company out of the station, Battery C fired a salute, and the whistles of the locomotives in the engine yard mingled with the cheers that arose from thousands of throats.
At Somerville, on the evening before departure, Company M was entertained by the citizens at Union Hall. The next morning they were escorted to the station by a large company of citizens, the Grand Army Posts, and members of the Relief Corps.
The reception of the regiment in Boston was equally enthusiastic. The Evening Transcript described the scenes along the line of march as follows:—
"From 9 o'clock this morning until the order to march was given, the Union Station was filled with cheering thousands and marching companies. They came by different trains, according to the places from which they started. As the companies left the train, they formed in the train shed, and marched to Lowell Street, where the parade was formed, with the right of line resting on Causeway Street. At 10.50 o'clock the regiment had formed on Lowell Street. An orderly announced that all of the companies had arrived at their positions in the line. Colonel Pew gave the command, and the clear, shrill notes of the bugle echoed along the line. Just then the sun, which had been hidden behind gray and threatening clouds, broke out, and the men welcomed this as a good omen in their coming service. The regiment swung off to the tune of the 'Stars and Stripes Forever' by the Eighth Regiment Band. Half way down the line was the Fife and Drum Corps playing 'The Girl I Left Behind Me.' Lowell Street, Merrimac Streets, and in fact all of the streets about the Union Station were crowded by thousands, and the various companies were given a most enthusiastic reception all along the line of march, which was over the following streets:—Merrimac to Haymarket Square, Washington and School, Beacon, Arlington and Boylston Streets to Huntington Avenue, a special train being taken at the Huntington Avenue station of the Boston & Albany R. R.
Far down Beacon Street could be seen the crowding thousands from a point of vantage on the State House steps; people were standing on tiptoe and craning their necks for a glimpse of the approaching troops. Presently the strains of martial music floated from below, mingled with the subdued and far away cheers which heralded the approach of the soldiers. The cheerings grew nearer and louder. One could catch now and again the air of the stirring march, and now the platoon of mounted police swung around the turn. On a chestnut horse at the head of the regiment, came Colonel William A. Pew, Jr. of Salem.
The head of the line passed Park Street and approached the State House steps. The cheering grew continuous, and there was a great waving of flags and handkerchiefs. General Curtis Guild, Jr. stepped to the side of the railing and swung his hat, calling for three cheers for Colonel Pew. They were given with a will, the thousands packed outside of the police lines taking up the cry. Colonel Pew and his staff saluted, and the review was in progress.
To none of the troops which have passed in review before Governor Wolcott and his staff at the State House, has there been given such a demonstration as that accorded to the Eighth Regiment this morning. It was shortly after 11 o'clock when the head of the line reached the corner of Park and Beacon streets, and from the moment that the first company had passed in review until the last of the batch of raw recruits which brought up the rear had gone from view, there was one continuous round of applause and cheering. General Curtis Guild, Jr. led in the cheering at the State House, and every time that he waved his hat there was an answering thunder of cheers. There were cheers for Colonel Pew, for the Eighth Regiment, and Essex County. Old Glory was cheered to the echo, and the gathered multitude was not too hoarse to give three and a tiger for the raw recruits who brought up the rear. Governor Wolcott and his staff reviewed the parade as usual, from the lower steps at the entrance to the State House. Above the upper steps were packed with gaily dressed women and enthusiastic men. The balconies were crowded, and the streets in all directions, as far as the eye could see, were jammed with crowding thousands. No more soldierly looking body of men had passed the State Capitol for years than the Eighth Regiment, which passed in review on its way to the front this morning.
The Commanding Officer and Staff were mounted, this being the first regiment parading with these officers mounted. The men were in heavy marching order, with rations for twenty-four hours in their haversacks. Officers and men of the whole regiment wore their campaign hats, and this gave them a businesslike appearance that seemed to say,—'We are going to the front to work.'"
Muster In
Shortly after 2 o'clock on the afternoon of May 5th, the Eighth marched onto the State Camp Grounds at South Framingham. The Second and Ninth Regiments turned out with a hearty welcome as the Fife and Drum Corps swung through the gate playing "Teddy Was a Sojer."
When the four volunteer regiments were mustered into the service, they dispensed with bands. The Eighth, however, took its drum corps, which as early as March 16th had volunteered, through the Drum Major. Drum Major Thomas was and still is (1908) an institution in the regiment. No one remembers when he was not Drum Major. Rumor says he was drummer boy at Bunker Hill, Lundy Lane and Chepultepec, and all know he marched with Sherman to the sea. Invincible against fever and malaria, he is never sick. Always busy, never complaining or tired, he is a cheerful regimental inspiration. Time does not change him, except as it adds new glories in the form of service stripes. His reveille from Low Scotch, through Austrian, Hessian, Double Drag, Dutch, to Quick Scotch, is always welcome as an eye opener. It is a tradition that the Colonel gets up before reveille for the mere pleasure of seeing Thomas lead, and of watching the drum sticks rattle. It is certainly true that the regiment was never late when Thomas led the band.
Camp was soon established. The Second Regiment, which assembled May 3rd, occupied the right of the line; next came the Ninth, which came into camp May 4th, followed by the Eighth. On the left was reserved a position for the Sixth, which was to assemble the next day. Adjutant Edward H. Eldredge was detailed as Brigade Adjutant General, and his place on the Regimental Staff was filled by Lieutenant Thomas D. Barroll of L Company.
Dame Rumor was soon busy spreading reports that the United States, personified by impartial and inexorable army surgeons, was rejecting men as unfit for foreign service. Already ten officers of the Second had been rejected for physical deficiencies. What pledges, words and wills had been unable to accomplish, the dread of a full service medical examination accomplished, and officers and men, who for years had smoked or broken minor rules of health, stopped on the moment to brace themselves for this ordeal.
The officers were ordered before the doctors the day after arriving in camp, and at intervals of twenty minutes they reported in groups of threes. Major Dudley B. Purbeck, who had recently suffered from a serious illness, was rejected. There was much excitement in the streets of Company C when it was reported that Captain James Tucker, Lieutenants Edgar J. Marshall and Frank B. Denning had failed to pass. The Selectmen and influential citizens of Marblehead were appealed to, and in some way secured a re-examination and a reversal of the finding in the case of Lieutenant Denning, who was finally mustered and commissioned as Captain.
After the officers had passed, the enlisted men faced the surgeons, the companies going up in alphabetical order. Many men were rejected and sent home. It was the rule not to muster a company until it had a full complement of qualified officers and men. The process was slow, and it was not until May 10th that the first company of the Eighth was mustered, followed in rapid succession by the others. The last company was mustered May 11th, and the Colonel sworn in.
The ceremony of mustering was interesting and impressive. Companies were marched to Brigade Headquarters, with the men arranged alphabetically in line. Facing the colors, taking off their hats, and raising their right hands, after roll call, they subscribed the following oath administered by Captain Erastus M. Weaver, U. S. A.:—
"All and each of you do solemnly swear that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the United States of America, and that you will serve them honestly and faithfully against all their enemies whomsoever, and that you will obey the President of the United States, and the orders of the officers appointed over you, according to the rules and articles of war, so help you God."
There was much pleasant rivalry between the Eighth and Ninth Regiments in a race to be first mustered in the United States service. The last company of the Ninth was mustered in just before the last company of the Eighth, and the Colonel of the Eighth being the last officer in the Regiment to be mustered into the service, was mustered in before the Colonel of the Ninth. The important question was never settled, which regiment was first mustered into the United States service.
After a company was mustered into the service, its Captain was given a copy of the Articles of War, and directed to read them to his company. From this tiresome reading of all the articles at once, a company wag said it was the general impression that the whole regiment was ordered by the President to suffer death or such other penalty as the court martial should prescribe.
The designation of the Regiments as finally mustered into the United States service, early became a matter of interest. It was rumored that in as much as Massachusetts sent sixty-two regiments to the Civil War, the numbering of the regiments in the Spanish War was to begin where the numbering of the Civil War regiments left off. In that case the Eighth would be known as the Sixty-Third or Sixty-Fourth Regiment. This enumeration was followed in some states. The designation of the regiment was left to Governor Wolcott, who published as the official name, Eighth Regiment Massachusetts Infantry, U. S. V.
The facings on the uniform was immediately changed from blue to white, and a collar device adopted consisting of crossed rifles with the figure eight above, and the abbreviation "Mass." below the rifles.
During the stay at Framingham everyone was busy, recruits were drilled, the regiment was exercised in striking and pitching tents, company cooks and kitchen police were made familiar with the army ration, battalions and companies were drilled, guards were instructed, and the usual parade and daily ceremonies held. The days were crisp and clear; the evenings, however, were chilly, but the dampness was dissipated by roaring camp fires on the parade, about which the soldiers clustered until taps.
It was the intention of the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts to have the regiments leave the State in order of the seniority of the Colonels. This would give third place to the Eighth.
On May 13th, the Adjutant-General of the United States Army telegraphed the United States mustering officer at South Framingham to notify the Colonels of mustered regiments to report direct to the War Department when their regiments would be ready to leave the State. This notice was sent to the Headquarters of the Eighth and Ninth. Colonel Pew immediately telegraphed the War Department that the Eighth was ready to leave at once, and in a few hours received a telegraphic order to take the regiment to Chickamauga Park, Georgia. Owing to the lack of railroad transportation, it was impossible for the Regiment to get away until May 16th.
Saturday, May 14th, was Eighth Regiment day at Camp Dewey. On Friday evening as soon as the soldiers were notified that the regiment was to hold itself ready to move at once, they rushed to the telegraph station and sent word to their friends at home that if they wished to see them, they should come to Camp Dewey in the morning, as it was expected that the Regiment would be on its way south by Saturday night.
Early in the morning, the friends of the soldiers began to arrive on the field, and every train brought crowds until by noon there were hundreds from every town and city having a company in the regiment. As the families of the soldiers came into camp, they brought with them boxes and bundles of the good things which a New England housewife knows so well how to cook, and during the hours between drills, there were family picnics all about the camp.
In the afternoon, Governor Wolcott and some of his staff visited the camp to present the officers with their commissions in the United States service. After passing in review before His Excellency, the Regiment formed three sides of a hollow square, with officers in the center. The Governor and his party formed a fourth side. The square was surrounded by friends of the Regiment, who covered half of the great parade ground. The remarks of His Excellency were deeply impressive, and at times he visibly showed the emotion which he felt. In a voice audible to everyone on the field, Governor Wolcott said:—
"Men of Essex and Middlesex:—Two days ago your parting cheers made sweet music in the ears of your comrades of the Second Regiment as they left the Commonwealth in the high service of the United States of America. Today you obey the same summons, and are ready, as they were, to endure hardship and suffering in the same exalted cause.
Your cause, men of Massachusetts, is a just and righteous one. I greatly misread the heart of this great nation if the historian of the future shall not record that this war was entered upon by a mighty and free people, who had heard, as long as they could endure them, the sighs and groans of an oppressed neighboring population, bending beneath the tyranny of a nation of the old world.
It is to set free the oppressed and to bind up their wounds that you now enter the service of the United States. You will find yourselves shoulder to shoulder with the men of other states. Let there be no other rivalry than generous emulation, that you shall show that the men of Massachusetts, where valor calls for sacrifice, or where the duty of the soldier calls for prompt obedience and good discipline, are second to the sons of no other Commonwealth and no other State in the United States of America.
You leave with the prayers and the confidence of the people of this Commonwealth. Officially, as the Governor of the Commonwealth, I bid you Godspeed! And may the God of battles bring you victory and an honorable peace!
It is now my privilege and honor to present to the officers of the Eighth Massachusetts Infantry, United States Volunteers, the commissions under which they enter the service of the United States."
After presenting the commissions, Governor Wolcott said:—
"Colonel Pew:—You have a regiment worthy of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and of the service of the United States of America."
The following officers received their commissions from Governor Wolcott on this occasion:—
Colonel—William A. Pew, Jr. of Salem.
Lieutenant Colonel—Edwin W. M. Bailey of Amesbury.
Majors—William Stopford of Beverly; Frank A. Graves of Marblehead; Edward H. Eldredge of Boston.
Adjutant—Lieutenant Thomas D. Barrol of Boston.
Quartermaster—Lieutenant Charles F. Wonson of Gloucester.
Surgeon—Major William Cogswell of Salem.
Assistant Surgeons—Lieutenant Thomas L. Jenkins of Topsfield; Lieutenant Frank P. T. Logan of Gloucester.
Chaplain—Rev. George D. Sanders of Gloucester.
Company A, Newburyport—Captain, Alexander G. Perkins; First Lieutenant, George W. Langdon; Second Lieutenant, George H. Dow.
Company B, Amesbury—Captain, Horace S. Bean; First Lieutenant, John M. Pettingill; Second Lieutenant, Frank Stinson.
Company C, Marblehead—Captain, Frank B. Denning; First Lieutenant, Linville H. Wardwell; Second Lieutenant, Frederic P. Smith.
Company D, Lynn—Captain, Charles T. Hilliker; First Lieutenant, Thomas J. Coby; Second Lieutenant, William F. Young.
Company E, Beverly—Captain, Frederick W. Stopford; First Lieutenant, Charles H. Farnham; Second Lieutenant, Francisco A. DeSousa.
Company F, Haverhill—Captain, William C. Dow; First Lieutenant, Per Justus Swanberg; Second Lieutenant, David E. Jewell.
Company G, Gloucester—Captain, Edward J. Horton; First Lieutenant, Charles M. McIsaac; Second Lieutenant, James C. Nutt.
Company H, Salem—Captain, Walter P. Nichols; First Lieutenant, George N. Jewett; Second Lieutenant, Augustus G. Reynolds.
Company I, Lynn—Captain, John E. Williams; First Lieutenant, Francis H. Downey; Second Lieutenant, William H. Perry.
Company K, Danvers—Captain, A. Preston Chase; First Lieutenant, Henry W. French; Second Lieutenant, Stephen N. Bond.
Company L, Lawrence—Captain, James Forbes; First Lieutenant, James H. Craig; Second Lieutenant, Roland H. Sherman.
Company M, Somerville—Captain, Herbert W. Whitten; First Lieutenant, George I. Canfield; Second Lieutenant, Frederick W. Pierce.
From May 14th to May 16th the Regiment waited, uncertain when its train transportation would arrive. Shortly after noon on the 16th, camp was struck. It was a damp and dreary day. There was no large crowd to cheer their departure, as the home stations of the companies were too remote, and the movement too sudden for the friends of the regiment to see them off. Late in the afternoon the regiment passed in review before Governor Wolcott, and took up its line of march for the railroad station. There it was quickly embarked in three sections. Each battalion had a section consisting of eleven cars, one for baggage, one for guard quarters, and two for each company. A Wagner sleeper was furnished on each section for the accommodation of the officers. The first section pulled out of the station at South Framingham at 6 o'clock, followed shortly afterwards by the others. The last section left at 6.30. The three sections carried 47 officers and 896 men.
Chickamauga
The route of the regiment to Chickamauga was through the valleys of the Hudson and Shennandoah. The cities of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington and Knoxville, were seen in passing, but stops were only made to allow the officers to obtain meals for themselves and coffee for the men. The Government furnished travel rations for the men consisting of hard tack, canned corned beef, beans and tomatoes, and a money allowance for coffee. In their year of service, no one in the regiment ever discovered a use for canned tomatoes as a travel ration.
During the trip hard tack circulated as souvenirs among the girls at the various stops, usually inscribed with the donor's name and address, and given in exchange for pieces of ribbon and other feminine favors. Enthusiastic crowds were in evidence at all the stations, where they gathered to see the troop trains pass. The men were confined to the cars, but managed to carry on many flirtations and make exchanges through the windows. Every day they were taken out at some stop for a run around or a bit of setting up exercise, and once the Third Battalion took advantage of a mountain stream for bathing purposes.
On the morning of May 19th the regiment awoke to find itself in the Citico Freight Yard, just outside the city of Chattanooga, together with other troop trains containing the men of the Twelfth New York, and the Twenty-First Kansas, with whom the regiment subsequently brigaded. After spending a day in the freight yard, the sections began late in the afternoon to slowly travel the fourteen miles between Chattanooga and Chickamauga Park. At Battle Station the battalions disembarked, the baggage was piled near the track and left under guard, while the regiment enjoyed its first bivouac on a neighboring hill.
The Colonel reported to General Brooke and was told that a camp site would be assigned and transportation for the baggage furnished the following day.
Chickamauga Park is a National Reservation in the northwestern corner of the State of Georgia, embracing some ten squares miles of territory, and commemorates the battle which was fought there in 1863. The park is wooded, with here and there open fields. Much of the underbrush had been cleared away, and good dirt roads constructed by the Government. The water supply consisted of a few dozen wells, which had supported a small farming population before the Government purchased the land. The soil is clayey above a limestone formation, which frequently outcrops and renders digging difficult. The months of May and June are liable to be pleasant and dry, but in July and August, abundant rain turns the ground where vegetation is worn off, into a mire of sticky mud. On one side, the Park is bounded by Chickamauga Creek, meaning in the Indian tongue, "The River of Death", and into this creek the whole surface of the Park drains. The Government intended to organize on this ground the First, Third and Sixth Army Corps, and at one time assembled about 55,000 men for this purpose. The camp was named, Camp George H. Thomas, in honor of the gallant soldier who rendered conspicuous service to the Federal cause in the battle of Chickamauga.
The Eighth Regiment was assigned to the Second Brigade, Third Division, First Army Corps. As Colonel William A. Pew, Jr. was the senior Colonel in the three regiments comprising this brigade, he was assigned to the command, pending the arrival of a Brigadier General, and the command of the Eighth Regiment devolved upon Lieutenant Colonel Edwin W. M. Bailey. Colonel Pew remained in command of the Brigade until June 29th, when he was succeeded by General Waites of Texas. Lieutenant Thomas D. Barroll, the Regimental Adjutant, and Lieutenant Charles F. Wonson, the Regimental Quartermaster, were detailed to Brigade Headquarters, and acted respectively as Adjutant General and Brigade Quartermaster. Their places in the regiment were filled by the detail of Lieutenant George W. Langdon, Acting Regimental Adjutant, and Lieutenant George I. Canfield, Acting Regimental Quartermaster, while Lieutenant Augustus G. Reynolds acted as Regimental Commissary.
The Third Division of the First Army Corps encamped on the Alexander Bridge road, near the southeastern corner of the Park, and about three miles from the railroad station. The camp of the Eighth was located in the woods, which were not dense, but more than sufficient for shade purposes. The tents of the Commanding Officer and his staff faced the west. Fifty paces in front of Headquarters were the tents of the line officers, and fifty paces in front of the quarters of the line officers were the heads of the Company streets. The tents of the men faced south, and were five paces apart. The Company streets were thirty paces wide. Thirty paces from the last tent in the Company street were the Company kitchens, and fifty paces in rear of the kitchens, were the Company sinks. The Eighth had the longest camp front of any Regiment in the Park, and later when sickness began to appear in the various camps, the wisdom of this arrangement was apparent.