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Bridgewater Review

Volume 35 | Issue 1 Article 5

May-2016 George Leonard Andrews: Bridgewater's Forgotten Orson Kingsley Bridgewater State University, [email protected]

Recommended Citation Kingsley, Orson (2016). George Leonard Andrews: Bridgewater's Forgotten General. Bridgewater Review, 35(1), 8-11. Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev/vol35/iss1/5

This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. George Leonard Andrews: Bridgewater State’s Forgotten General Orson Kingsley ridgewater Normal School was still in its infancy when the country turned on itself Band went to war in 1861. Though BNS was a teacher preparation school with the vast majority of its students at the time being women, there were a small number of male students—several of whom served in the war and some of whom gained great prestige from doing so. One, an 1860 graduate and son of a sea captain, won a Congressional Medal of Honor George Leonard Andrews (, 2nd Massa­ during the War and later wrote his regiment’s history. chusetts Volunteer Infantry, Major Another, an 1861 graduate, also a Congressional General, ). Andrews was a graduate of Bridgewater Normal School (1846) Medal of Honor winner, died in office while serving and the United States Military Academy (1851). as Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the (MOLLUS Mass Collection, United States Army Heritage and Education Center, Carlisle, Penn.) Republic. The stories of these men are important Academy had ever seen. He ranked first contributions to BSU’s nineteenth-century legacy. in the order of merit for every subject, But arguably the most successful Civil War veteran to and had zero demerits his final year. come from BNS was a third man, an 1846 graduate And his class of cadets was made up of very high achievers. Of the 42 cadets and Bridgewater native, George Leonard Andrews. in his graduating class, nine went on George L. Andrews was born on Bridgewater Normal School, 1840-54, to serve as generals in the Civil War August 31, 1828 to local residents BSU Archives). (three for the Confederacy and six for Manassah and Harriet (Leonard) the Union; three were killed during A month after graduating from BNS, Andrews. George’s father had fought the War). Andrews finished West Point Andrews applied for a cadetship at in the War of 1812 and worked as a ranked first in the entire Academy West Point. In a letter of recommen- machinist in Bridgewater’s early indus- in the 1851 Conduct Roll, ahead of dation to Secretary of War William trial era. George entered Bridgewater such notables as future generals O.O. L. Marcy dated January 16, 1847, Normal School in July 1845 under the Howard, J.E.B. Stuart, John B. Hood, Tillinghast wrote: “I feel no hesitation tutelage of the school’s first principal, John M. Schofield, and Philip Sheridan in promising that [Andrews] will take Nicholas Tillinghast. Tillinghast was a (Official Register of the Officers and Cadets a high stand in the class, be observant United States Military Academy gradu- of the U.S. Military Academy, June 1851). of the rules of the Institution, & serve ate who, while later teaching there, had In May 1861, when Andrews was the Government well in any situa- had future Confederate commander serving as a Lieutenant Colonel for tion to which he may be called” (U.S. Robert E. Lee as a student. It was likely the , a soldier under Military Academy Cadet Application through Tillinghast that Andrews his command wrote home to his Papers, 1805-1866, National Archives). became connected to West Point. He mother: “Both our Col. & Lieut. Col. Tillinghast’s words proved prophetic. attended the Normal School for the [Andrews] are West Point men. The Andrews entered West Point in 1847 17th, 19th, and 20th terms and finished latter graduated higher than anyone and finished the program in 1851 with his program in late 1846 (Ledger, else ever did” (Duncan, ed. Blue-Eyed one of the most sterling records the

8 Bridgewater Review Child of Fortune [1992]). These words of reverence were penned by Robert Andrews finished West Point Gould Shaw, who went on to com- mand the 54th Massachusetts Infantry ranked first in the entire Academy Regiment, an early all-black unit in the 1851 Conduct Roll, ahead that was immortalized in the 1989 movie Glory. of such notables as future generals Before the outbreak of the Civil War, however, Andrews was positioning O.O. Howard, J.E.B. Stuart, John himself for a career as a civil engineer. After graduating from West Point B. Hood, John M. Schofield, and he was assigned to the Army Corps Philip Sheridan. of Engineers. From 1851 to 1854, Andrews worked under former West Point Superintendent Sylvanus Thayer, who helped shape West Point’s engi- listed as an Acting Assistant Professor with a total of 726 demerits over his neering program and is known as the of Military and Civil Engineering. four years (Official Register, 1858-61). His short time teaching at West “Father of West Point” (Pappas, To On April 12, 1861, the first shots Point undoubtedly had him work- The Point: The United States Military rang out over Fort Sumter and ing under Robert E. Lee, West Point Academy, 1802-1902 [1993]). Andrews civil unrest escalated into civil war. Superintendent (1852-55). In curious spent roughly three years working to Andrews enlisted in late May 1861 as ways, the paths of Andrews and Lee build Fort Warren, a fort on Georges a Lieutenant Colonel in the Second crossed both before and during the Island that served to protect Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer War. Both serious-minded engineers, Harbor and was used as a prisoner-of- Infantry. He was listed as a 33-year-old Lee and Andrews each went into the war camp for captured Confederate military engineer from Roxbury, near Civil War with reputations as disci- soldiers during the war. Boston. At about the same time, two plinarians. Lee had finished as a West other men enlisted in the 2nd MA who The teaching bug may have bitten Point cadet in 1829 ranked second in likely influenced Andrews’ choices later Andrews while he was helping con- his class and with zero demerits over his in the war: Robert Morris Copeland struct Fort Warren. He went back to four years there. Andrews finished as from Roxbury and Shaw from Boston. West Point shortly after his time work- a West Point cadet in 1851 ranked first These three men occupied the same ing on Georges Island to take a position in his class and with 11 demerits over regiment for the following 14 months as a professor teaching cadets. In the four years. To put this in comparative and must have encountered one June 1855 Official Register of the Officers perspective, future general George A. another on many occasions. In May and Cadets at West Point, Andrews is Custer finished at West Point in 1861 1863, the first “Colored” regiment, the Massachusetts 54th, was organized with Shaw chosen by Governor Andrew to lead it. This was a watershed moment in American history. The brainchild behind this all-Black regiment was Copeland, a landscape architect by profession who envisioned himself as the regiment’s commanding officer. Copeland believed it to be the best hope for a Union victory. Ultimately, it was Shaw who, as its leader, died during the charge on Fort Wagner by the 54th MA in 1863 and has since been glorified for it. Copeland faded into obscurity. In 1862, Andrews and the 2nd MA were involved in several battles. On August Lithograph of the State Normal School, Bridgewater, Massachusetts, 1846 (Archives and Special 9, at the Battle of Cedar Mountain, Collections, Bridgewater State University).

May 2016 9 Andrews conducted the rear guard of 1862, when Major-General Nathaniel 1863, nearly two months before the the Union retreat. He wrote a sub- P. Banks was assigned to Louisiana to 54th MA’s famous charge at Fort stantial paper on that battle in 1895 in relieve of command Wagner—that black Union soldiers which he explained his reasoning for of the Department of the Gulf. After made national headlines for bravery defying orders from General Nathaniel helping with the logistics of this expe- in battle (Welcher, The Union Army, Banks to attack across an open field: dition, Andrews was named Banks’ 1861-1865 [1993]). Two regiments of “Why it will be the destruction of Chief of Staff of the Nineteenth Corps, free blacks and ex-slaves the regiment and will do no good.” Department of the Gulf, on , from Louisiana led a failed attack on Andrews later learned the order was 1863. He remained in Louisiana for the Confederate-held Port Hudson. Back a mistake, reassuring him that he had duration of the war, where he helped in Andrews’ Massachusetts, the Taunton made the correct decision (Dwight, the Union open up and take control of Union Gazette and Democrat declared ed. Papers of the Military Historical Society the River. on June 11, 1863: “These sable soldiers of Massachusetts [1989]). Less than two provoked the most frenzied hatred on As Union troops under General months after the September 17 Battle the other side, and the rebels bent all Ulysses S. Grant attacked Vicksburg, of Antietam, in which Andrews led their energies to their annihilation; Mississippi, in summer 1863, General troops involved in the notorious mas- and since the first they have missed no Banks’ troops attacked and held siege sacre at Miller’s Cornfield, he was again chance to kill negro pickets. In one to Port Hudson, Louisiana. Still acting promoted—this time to the rank of instance they pounced upon a single as Banks’ Chief of Staff, Andrews took Brigadier-General. black sentry, captured and forthwith over a division for a day when General hung him.” Another article in the same Andrews’ part in the war took a new Thomas Sherman was wounded. paper touted the “Bravery of the Negro direction in November and December This was the same day—May 27,

Hand-drawn Maps of parts of the Confederacy kept by General G.L. Andrews during the Civil War (Archives and Special Collections, Bridgewater State University).

10 Bridgewater Review dismissal, cadets found deficient in Andrews had 19 regiments of studies or guilty of serious misconduct.” Andrews specifically pinpointed the era infantry and two regiments of at West Point after Robert E. Lee had engineers under his command, left as superintendent, which saw stand- ards fall and when cadets with atrocious all of them made up of “colored” records, such as , were pushed through the troops. At one point, he had more program and allowed to graduate. For Andrews, strict discipline and rigorous than 19,000 soldiers under mental training were the foundation of education and the complaints of people his command. and past graduates over their children failing the entrance exam did not expose the faults of the Academy. Both Regiments.” The Confederates at Port After the war, Andrews tried his hand rich Easterners and poor Westerners Hudson officially surrendered on July at a couple of different jobs before were rejected because of poor prepa- 9, giving the Union control over the his original calling in life came back ration and not because of where they Mississippi. On the same day, Andrews to him. After stints as a planter in came from or who their parents were was given a new assignment that was to Mississippi and a United States marshal (Andrews, “The Military Academy and bring colored troops even further into in Massachusetts, Andrews found the its Requirements” [1883]). the national spotlight. job that combined his love of teaching By 1892, Brigadier-General and scholar with his love of the military: professor In May 1863, General Banks proposed George Leonard Andrews’ career had of French and Foreign Languages at General Order No. 40—the creation come full-circle. Forty-seven years after West Point. He remained in it until his of an all-black corps, the “Corps graduating from Bridgewater Normal retirement in 1892. d’Afrique” ( Times, May 18, Academy, where he began rigorous 1863), whose command Andrews was The theories of pedagogy and the training to become a teacher, he retired given after Port Hudson fell to the academic discipline that Andrews from the field. With guidance from one Union. The soldiers in the corps con- learned years earlier during his time of the nation’s first Normal Schools as sisted of those already involved in the at Bridgewater Normal School can his foundation, he went on to have a Louisiana campaign, as well as freed- be found in full bloom in an 1883 very diverse, demanding, rewarding, men and runaway slaves recruited from speech he read before the United States and highly successful career in teaching, the surrounding area. By August 15, Military Service Institute at West Point engineering, the military, government Andrews had 19 regiments of infantry titled “The Military Academy and its work and, finally, teaching again. On and two regiments of engineers under Requirements.” Andrews’ speech was April 4, 1899 he passed away while liv- his command, all of them made up in response to a furor over West Point’s ing in Brookline, Mass. He is buried in of “colored” troops. At one point, he academic curriculum, in particular the Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge. had more than 19,000 soldiers under public and past graduates’ outcry that his command. On April 19, 1864, the it was too rigorous and only catered Corps d’Afrique was renamed the to society’s elite because acceptance United States Colored Troops (USCT). standards were too difficult to reach. The USCT, Department of the Gulf, Andrews’ reaction was plain: “Present remained under Andrews’ command requirements for admission should be with headquarters at Port Hudson until not only maintained, but increased February 1865. In all, he spent more as circumstances shall permit … The than 20 months as the commander of result of relaxing the traditional dis- the Corps d’Afrique/USCT. After he cipline may be seen by the condition left this position, he stayed in the South of the Corps of the Cadets in 1860. Orson Kingsley is Associate Librarian and was involved in the capture of At that time the War Department, and Head of Archives and Special Mobile, for which he was later brevet- instead of sustaining the authorities Collections in the Clement C. ted brigadier-general for his display of of the Academy, saw fit to continue at Maxwell Library. distinguished bravery. the institution, or to restore to it after

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