ptOKTUNIVERSlXy 'auiw)iiuii[uMUiiWjiWjuujituRUiii,^i;ujiiuftuiiujiiu^ KEITH M. READ CONFEDERATE COLLECTION iiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiTTnr iiMiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiii'd 124682 MAn 7 ~ 194H ,N HISTORICAL SKETCH Old Sixth Regiment mtassurbusctts Mmtimrs, DURING ITS THREE CAMPAIGNS IN 1861, 1862, 1863, AND 1864. CONTAINING THE HISTORY OF THE SEVERAL COMPANIES PREVIOUS TO 1861, AND THE NAME AND MILITARY RECORD OF EACH MAN CONNECTED WITH THE REGIMENT DURING THE WAR. By JOHN W HANSON, Chaplain. ILLUSTRATED BY PHOTOGRAPHS. BOSTON: LEE AND SHEPARD. 1866. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by JOHN W. HANSON, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS. The Frontispiece. At the top of the page is a photograph of Nekd- ham, and under him is his monument in Lawrence. On the left hand is Whitney, on the right is Ladd, with the Lowell monument between. Col. Jones, his Field and Staff. Dr. Paine occupies the upper left- hand corner; Lizzie Jones, the Daughter of the Regiment, is next; and Q. M. Monroe is next. Below Dr. Paine, is Lieut.-Col. Watson; Col. Jones is next; and Maj. Sawtell is next. On the lower left-hand corner is Dr. Smith; Adj. Farr is next to him; and Chaplain Babbidge is on the right- hand lower corner. Col. Follansbee, his Field and Staff. Dr. Sargent is at the top of the page; Q. M. Coburn is below on the left of him. Dr. Pinkham, on right of him ; and Q. M. Farrar, immediately under him. On the left, under Q. M. Coburn, is Maj. Allen; and on the right is Adj. Coleman. Col. Follansbee fills the centre of the picture, Dr. Burnham on the right, and Chaplain Hanson on the left. Lt.-Col. Beal is below Col. Follansbee, on the left of the page, and Maj. Stott on the right. Immediately under the colonel, is Q. M. Wise. Dr. Humphrey is on the left-hand lower corner, and Dr. Bass on the right-hand lower corner. ; PREFACE. The author has endeavored to keep pace with the rapid changes that have taken place during the progress of these pages through the press ; and he believes he has recorded most of those relating to the members of the regiment. The rosters have been shown to a large number of officers and men, and he has sought to make them as complete as possible. He has given a plain, unvarnished account of the adventures of the regiment during its three campaigns and he believes that it is as nearly a literal record of the transactions it professes to narrate as it is possible to write. Nothing has been omitted that the most careful inquiry could elicit, and no attempt has been made to exercise the imagination. He sends his sketch forth, commending it, with his best wishes, to those whose acquaintance and friendship he will ever value, — the present and past mem- bers of The Sixth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers. Cjxe Cjrrte |$t0nt{rs' Campaign. The Three Months' Campaign. —o-oJScJO INTRODUCTION N the history of the greatest, as well as most groundless, rebellion that ever convulsed the , earth, the part performed by the Sixth Regi- ment of Massachusetts Volunteers will always occupy an honorable place ; for it was fortunate enough to furnish the first hero-martyrs to lay down their lives for their country, and to stand at the head of the long, bright roll inscribed with the names of the brave men who have sealed their patriotism with their blood, during the tremendous civil strife of 1861-5. This honor should not, however, be ascribed to its mere good fortune ; for it was an exalted, patriotic zeal and fervor that impelled it to be first, rather than any stroke of luck, that placed the name of the regi- ment on so bright a page of its country's history. 10 The Three Months' Campaign. Many of its members had long cherished the military spirit, and that, too, at a time when that spirit was nearly dead in Massachusetts; and some of the company organ- izations were among the earliest formed in the State, and had for years been the propagating nurseries of that pa- triotism which rallied to the defence of Constitutional Lib- erty and Law, when they were assailed by traitors. It was the drill in quiet times ; the holiday show which evoked the derision of the philanthropist, and the op- position of the advocate of peace ; the parade and mus- ter, on which too many looked as the mere entertainment of a day, of no practical utility; it was this that pre- pared, and had in readiness, the men and the arms, and the needed skill, when the occasion called for their use in the stern work of actual service. At such a time, — when the military spirit had nearly died out in the State ; when the militia of Massachusetts was about obsolete, and the soldier in uniform was looked upon by thousands as a mere popinjay, half fuss and half feathers,— one far-seeing man, in whose prophetic mind the events of the near and fast-approaching future had begun to shape themselves, commenced to revive the State mil- itary ; and by his influence as chief executive, and, also, through the legislature and the people, he resurrected the militia system, and gave it new vitality and force. And it is largely to the influence of Gov. N. P Banks, that we owe the re-organization and efficiency of that system that was in comparative readiness, when the great occasion The Three Months' Campaign 11 called for it, to stand between the Government and trea- son, — the country and its enemies. As will be seen in the course of the following pages, the regiment whose history is here chronicled occupies its distinguished position because it had given heed to the injunction of the Father of his Country, and had, in time of peace, prepared for war. It was owing to the cultivation of the military spirit through the previous years, that it was ready when the great emergency came. THE FIRST BLOW STRUCK. The latent treason that had been ripening its poison for forty years in the southern portion of the Republic, on the election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency of the United States proceeded to overt rebellion. It was confined to resolutions and words, until April 12, 1861, when it assaulted the flag of the country. The telegraph flashed the tidings as soon as the act was perpetrated ; so that on the same day that the guns of South Carolina were turned on the gallant garrison in Fort Sumter, they found echoes in twenty million loyal hearts. The anxiety and excitement that everywhere prevailed were terrible. A handful of soldiers had been forced to sur- render to thousands of traitors, and the entire people were resolved to punish the perpetrators to the bitter end. Civil war was inaugurated; and the President called for a special session of Congress, and for seventy- 12 The Three Months' Campaign. five thousand men to " rally round the flag," and rush to the defence of their country and government. The re- sponse was magnificent. The plough, the loom, the ledger, the bar, the pulpit, all the avocations of ordinary life, were abandoned ; and men of all conditions and circum- stances flew to arms, and gave their cheerful response to the call of the nation's Chief Magistrate. First to offer its services ; first to reach its State's capital ; first to reach the nation's capital ; first to in- flict suffering on traitors ; first to attest its sincerity with its blood, — was the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment of Volunteer Militia. PRELIMINARY STEPS. When it seemed probable to far-seeing men that there would be trouble with the refractory spirits in the South, and while the most of people did not foresee the coming storm, a meeting was called at the suggestion of Maj. Gen. B. F. B.itler, of the officers of the regiment, to arrange for future contingencies. It was held in the American House, Lowell, January 21, 1861. At that meeting, Major B. F Watson presented a resolution, pledging the services of the regiment to the Government ; and the proposition received the unanimous support of the officers. It was carried to Boston by Gen. Butler, who was then in the Massachusetts Senate, and was by him read in the Legislature. The resolution reads as follows : — The Three Months' Campaign 13 Resolved, That Col. Jones be authorized and requested, forth- with, to tender the services of the Sixth Regiment to the Com- mander-in-Chief and Legislature, when such service may be- come desirable, for the purposes contemplated in General Order No. 4. This was probably the first act of the volunteer militia of the country to meet the approaching strife. The readiness of the regiment to meet the danger thrust upon the nation is largely, perhaps entirely, due to Gen. Butler's sagacity. When the time comes to write the history of the war, his name will fill a space second to that occupied by but few others. In devotedness to his country, in fertility of resources to overcome new and trying emergencies, in complete success where most would have failed, Gen. Butler has had no superior, if he has had an equal. RESPONSE TO THE CALL. When at length the call came, telegrams and expresses flew to all parts of the command, notifying the members of the regiment ; some of the officers — Col. Jones among them — riding all night on their patriotic errands.