The History of the Twenty-ninth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry / in the Late War of the Rebellion

APPENDIX.

REUNIONS OF THE REGIMENT.

The feelings of fraternity which grew out of participation in common dangers and hardships naturally gave rise to a desire on the part of the surviving members of the regiment to occasionally meet each other in a purely social way, exchange greetings, and renew the old and strongly-cemented friendships of army life.

THE FIRST REUNION.

The first of these reunions took place in Boston in June, 1870. A small number of comrades assembled at Evans’s Hall, Boston, May 30, 1870; the meeting was called to order by Sergeant John B. Smithers of Company B, and it was voted to form a temporary organization. Captain Charles Brady was elected President, and Hospital Steward John Hardy, Treasurer, pro tempore, whereupon the meeting adjourned till June 17, following, at the same place.

On the 17th of June, 1870, the meeting again assembled, Captain Brady in the chair, and a permanent organization was effected as follows:—

President.—General Joseph H. Barnes.

Vice-Presidents.—William H. Osborne, Company C; Sergeants B. B. Brown, Company B; Samuel C. Wright, Company E; William H. Burns, Company I.

Secretary.—Lieutenant John Lucas, Company B.

Corresponding Secretary.—John J. Ryan, Company B.

Treasurer.—Hospital Steward John Hardy.

Executive Committee.—Colonel Thomas W. Clarke; Captain William D. Chamberlain; John J. Ryan, Company B; Sergeant John B. Smithers, Company B; Corporal Martin L. Kern, Jr., Company D.

Some discussion was had concerning the rolls of the regiment, and Colonel Clarke and Lieutenant-Colonel Willard D. Tripp were appointed a committee to revise the regimental roll prepared by the Adjutant-General. At this meeting it was announced that comrade William H. Osborne was engaged in collecting material for the history of the regiment, and Sergeant Hodgkins, Company B; Lieutenant Henry A. Hunting, Company K; and Daniel B. Perkins, Jr., of Company H, were chosen a committee to assist in the matter.249

This meeting was not largely attended, but nearly every company was represented by one or more members.

SECOND REUNION.

In pursuance of a call published in several of the Boston papers, the Association met at the Sherman House, Boston, May 13, 1871. Officers were chosen for the ensuing year, as follows:—

President.—General Joseph H. Barnes.

Vice-Presidents.—Lieutenant-Colonel Willard D. Tripp; Major Samuel H. Doten; William H. Osborne, Company C; Sergeant B. B. Brown, Company B; Colonel Henry R. Sibley.

Recording Secretary.—Lieutenant John Lucas.

Corresponding Secretary.—John J. Ryan, Company B.

Treasurer.—Captain George H. Long.

Executive Committee.—Colonel Thomas W. Clarke; Lieutenant J. O’Neil; Samuel W. Hunt, Company D; Sergeant-Major George H. Morse; Sergeant Samuel C. Wright, Company E.

At this meeting, which was largely attended and of unusual interest, a very valuable paper was read by the President, reviewing an account, written by one Henry Coppee, LL. D., of the battle of the Mine, July 30, 1864, and embracing a particular statement of the facts concerning the transfer of the non-re-enlisting members of the regiment to the Thirty-sixth Massachusetts Regiment.

A vote of thanks was passed to comrades Ryan, Smithers, Captain George H. Taylor, and Lieutenant Lucas, for the interest they had taken in bringing about the reunion of the regiment.

It having come to the knowledge of the meeting that Major-General Ambrose E. Burnside was then in the city, a committee composed of Colonel Clarke, Lieutenant-Colonel Tripp, Captain Long, Adjutant Braden, and comrade Ryan, was chosen to wait on the General, and extend to him the kind greetings and regards of the members of the regiment Action was taken concerning a regimental badge, and Colonel Clarke was appointed a committee to prepare a design for it. This was the first time that the Association dined together, a fine dinner being served at the Sherman House.

THIRD REUNION.

This was Company H’s day; the Association assembled at Monument Hall, Charlestown, May 14, 1872. Colonel Clarke reported a design for a regimental badge, which was adopted. It was a rough bronze medal, stamped with the figures of an upraised right forearm, grasping in the hand an uplifted sword; beneath this a row of cannon-balls, and under all the figures “29.”

Officers for 1872-73.

President.—General J. H. Barnes.

Vice-Presidents.—Major S. H. Doten, Colonel H. R. Sibley, Major Charles T. Richardson, Captain W. D. Chamberlain, Lieutenant J. Lucas.

Recording Secretary.—J. J. Ryan.

Corresponding Secretary.—Lieutenant-Colonel W. D. Tripp.

Treasurer.—Captain George H. Long.

Executive Committee.—Major S. H. Doten; Sergeant S. C. Wright, Company E; Colonel T. W. Clarke; Captain Charles A. Carpenter; Emery Jaquith, Company C.

Lieutenant-Colonel Tripp presented the Association with the two large printed volumes entitled, “The Record of Massachusetts Volunteers,” for which a vote of thanks was tendered him.

It was voted to hold the next reunion at Plymouth. A committee of ten, consisting of one member of each company, was chosen to prepare a perfect roster of the regiment.250

FOURTH REUNION.

Plymouth, May 14, 1873.

The meeting assembled in Grand Army Hall, and after listening to the reports of its Secretary and several committees, proceeded to choose officers for the year 1873-74.

The officers elected were as follows:—

President.—General J. H. Barnes.

Vice-Presidents.—Major Samuel H. Doten; Surgeon George B. Cogswell; Adjutant H. A. Braden; Sergeant John H. Hancock, Company H; Sergeant G. Townsend, Company I.

Recording Secretary.—J. J. Ryan, Company B.

Corresponding Secretary.—J. S. Manning, Company K.

Treasurer.—Colonel T. W. Clarke.

Executive Committee.—Captain W. D. Chamberlain; Corporal H. E. Hay, Company I; Captain A. A. Oliver; Sergeant George Townsend, Company I; Sergeant J. F. Smith, Company H.

An act of soldierly love for a dead comrade distinguished this meeting from all that had preceded it; indeed, from all that have since been held.

During the latter part of the war, a certain well-known foreigner, with the aid of the friends and relatives of our dead soldiers of this and other States, established in the city of Boston a portrait gallery, which was known as the “Gallery of Departed Heroes.” The friends of Major Charles Chipman had contributed liberally towards an elegant oil-portrait of this worthy soldier of the regiment, which, with a costly frame, had been placed in the aforenamed gallery. Through improper management, leading to the pecuniary embarrassment of the originator, all the portraits in the gallery had become heavily mortgaged, and shortly prior to this meeting, the several mortgages had been foreclosed, and the property not being of a generally saleable character, much of it had fallen into the hands of the mortgagees, including the portrait of Major Chipman.

Previous to this reunion, Sergeant Samuel C. Wright, whose love for his comrades, living and dead, is as pure as refined gold, redeemed at his own expense Major Chipman’s portrait, and brought it to Plymouth with the purpose of eventually presenting it to the widow and family of the deceased. The comrades would not suffer him to bear the whole of this burden, but, at this meeting, generously contributed each one his share of the expense incurred, and then, by an unanimous vote, granted the fine portrait, as a token of their love and esteem, to Mrs. Chipman and her children.

The portrait was soon afterwards sent to the donees, accompanied by a touching letter from the President of the Association.

This reunion was the first that was attended by the wives and lady friends of the comrades, and was one of great enjoyment, the citizens of Plymouth doing all in their power to contribute to its success, and by their many acts of kindness, reviving the memory of the unselfishness and flowing bounty of 1861.

Dinner was served at the Samoset House, at which the Plymouth Band, and many of the first citizens of the town, were in attendance.

FIFTH REUNION.—Lynn, May 14, 1874.
OFFICERS.

President.—General J. H. Barnes.

Vice-Presidents.—Major S. H. Doten; Colonel Henry R. Sibley; Surgeon George B. Cogswell; Wm. H. Osborne, Company C; Sergeant G. Townsend, Company I.

Secretary.—J. J. Ryan, Company B.

Corresponding Secretary.—Sergeant Samuel C. Wright, Company E.

Treasurer.—Colonel T. W. Clarke.

The business meeting was held in the hall of General Lander Post, G. A. R., at the close of which the comrades and their ladies took carriages and drove to the Relay House, Nahant Beach, where a fine dinner was served. Captain D. W. Lee acted as toast-master for the occasion, and sentiments were responded to as follows: “The President of the United States,” by letter from General Banks; “The Day we Celebrate,” by Surgeon Cogswell; “The Army of the Union,” by General Barnes, who closed by offering this touching sentiment: “Our Heroic Dead: God keep their memory green.” This was responded to by all the comrades, who rose in token of respect to their memory. The other sentiments were, “The State of Massachusetts,” responded to by the band; “The Twenty-ninth Massachusetts Regiment,” by Colonel Clarke and W. H. Osborne. Corporal A. B. Fiske of Company K closed the literary exercises by an eloquent speech.

“The company then spent some time strolling on the shore, enjoying the fine water views and pleasant weather. The day had been warm, and closed like a superb mid-summer day, calm and still, giving the water the appearance of a sheet of silver.” At half-past six o’clock the members took the carriages and drove to the Lynn depot, taking the evening train to Boston.

SIXTH REUNION.

The sixth reunion was held at Downer’s Landing, Hingham Harbor, September 17, 1875. The comrades and their families, to the number of about one hundred, assembled at the Boston wharf of the Hingham Steamboat Company quite early in the morning, took the boat for the Landing, where, upon arrival, a business meeting was held, and officers for the year 1875-76 chosen, as follows:—

President.—General J. H. Barnes.

Vice-Presidents.—Wm. H. Osborne, Company C; Corporal Alonzo B. Fiske, Company K; Sergeant W. B. Standish, Company E; Sergeant Geo. Townsend, Company I; Sergeant J. B. Smithers, Company B.

Recording Secretary.—Sergeant Sam’l C. Wright, Company E.

Corresponding Secretary.—H. E. Stewart, Company K.

Treasurer.—Colonel Thos. W. Clarke.

Executive Committee.—Colonel H. R. Sibley; Lieutenant John Shannon; Captain D. W. Lee; Lieutenant J. O’Neil; Lieutenant J. Lucas.

Comrade W. H. Osborne was called upon to report what progress he had made in writing the history of the regiment, and when he had reported, Colonel Sibley offered a resolution, which was passed, pledging the assistance of the comrades in publishing the work.

The cold and windy character of the day tended to render this meeting of the regiment less successful and interesting than those of former years.

SEVENTH REUNION.—American House, Boston, May 15, 1876.

The Association met at one o’clock, P. M., and chose officers and transacted business.

OFFICERS ELECTED.

President.—General J. H. Barnes.

Vice-Presidents.—Major Chas. T. Richardson; W. H. Osborne, Company C; Sergeant Geo. Townsend, Company I: Colonel H. R. Sibley; Captain Lebbeus Leach.

Recording Secretary.—Sergeant Sam’l C. Wright, Company E.

Corresponding Secretary.—H. E. Stewart, Company K.

Treasurer.—Colonel T. W. Clarke.

Executive Committee.—Colonel H. R. Sibley; Lieutenant J. O’Neil; General J. H. Barnes; Captain D. W. Lee; Colonel Thos. W. Clarke; Sergeant Sam’l C. Wright; Wm. H. Osborne; Corporal Geo. W. Allen, Company C.

A vote of thanks was extended to comrade Wm. H. Osborne for his services in writing the regimental history, and also for his invitation to the Association to hold its next meeting at East Bridgewater.

At 3 o’clock, P. M., the Association, with its invited guests,—among whom was Governor Rice,—sat down to dinner. Colonel Clarke acted as toast-master, and the first toast, “The President of the United States,” was proposed, and a letter read from Collector Simmons in response to the sentiment. “The Commonwealth of Massachusetts” called out Governor Rice, who was received with cheers, and who said, in the course of his remarks, that he considered it a greater honor to have been a faithful soldier of the Union than Governor of Massachusetts; and also, that if the Association found any pecuniary difficulty in publishing the history of the regiment, to call upon him, in which case he would gladly aid the worthy undertaking. Letters were read from Governor Hartranft of Pennsylvania, Mayor Cobb, and others. Speeches were made by the President, Colonel Clarke, Major Doten and Corporal Fiske.

About eighty comrades were present.

EIGHTH REUNION.

The eighth reunion was held at East Bridgewater, June 18, 1877, two hundred, including members and their families, being present.

The day was one of the most lovely in June, and was keenly enjoyed by the visiting comrades, their wives and children, who strolled about the quiet, shady streets of the town, visited the soldiers’ monument upon the common, which bears the names of a number of the dead of the regiment, and walked through the adjacent groves. The citizens of the town met them everywhere with smiles and words of welcome, and at one o’clock provided them with a bountiful dinner in the lower hall of the Town-house, where a large committee of the ladies of East Bridgewater were in attendance to wait on the tables and testify by their presence and numerous attentions their respect for these veterans of the war.

At the close of the enjoyments at the table the company assembled in the main hall to listen to some fine singing by members of the East Bridgewater Musical Society. After this came speaking, in which several of the townspeople and comrades took part.

The whole meeting was conducted in a pleasantly informal manner, and was, for that reason, all the more productive of enjoyment and profit. Nineteen new members were added to the roll of the Association, and in view of the deep interest taken by the wives of the members in the meeting, they were, by vote, made honorary members of the Association.

While the business meeting was in session in the morning, Captain Leach, whose absence all had been regretting, suddenly came into the hall. The members all rose in their seats and gave him three hearty cheers, to which warm welcome the brave old Captain, now slightly bowed by the weight of seventy-seven years, responded by choking words of gratitude and thanks.

One of the saddest and bravest chapters in the history of the old regiment was brought freshly to remembrance by a fine photograph, suspended in front of the speaker’s desk, of Major Charles Chipman, Lieutenant Burgess, and the three standard-bearers, Grosvenor, Tighe, and Willis, who lost their young lives on the 17th of June, 1864.

The officers elected for the year 1877-78 were:—

President.—General J. H. Barnes.

Vice-Presidents.—Major C. T. Richardson; W. H. Osborne, Company C; Sergeant George Townsend, Company I; Colonel H. R. Sibley; Captain Lebbeus Leach.

Treasurer.—Colonel T. W. Clarke.

Recording Secretary.—Sergeant S. C. Wright, Company E.

Corresponding Secretary.—H. E. Stewart, Company K.

Executive Committee.—Colonel H. R. Sibley; Lieutenant J. O’Neil; General J. H. Barnes; Captain D. W. Lee; Sergeant S. C. Wright, Company E; Colonel T. W. Clarke; William H. Osborne; Corporal George W. Allen, Company C.

The author sincerely hopes that the Secretary of the Association will have the pleasure to record the proceedings of many future meetings of his comrades, and that none will prove to be seasons of less joy and gladness than this, the eighth annual reunion.

PARADE OF THE REGIMENT,
September 17, 1877.

The beautiful and costly monument erected by the city of Boston in memory of its heroic dead of the late war was dedicated with imposing ceremonies on the 17th of September, 1877, which was the fifteenth anniversary of the battle of Antietam. The monument, one of the finest in the country, is erected on a little hill on the Boston Common, at the foot of which stood the famous Old Elm, destroyed by wind, February 15, 1876. There was once a powder magazine on the hill occupied by the monument, which, during the siege of Boston, was the site of a British fortification bombarded by Washington. In the war of 1812, a body of troops designed to protect the town was encamped about this very spot.

On the side of the monument, facing the south, cut in bold, square letters, is the following inscription:—

Honorable Charles Devens, Attorney-General of the United States, delivered the oration; and General Augustus P. Martin of Boston acted as Chief Marshal. Colonel Henry R. Sibley of the Twenty-ninth Regiment was honored with the command of the Suffolk County Division of the Grand Army of the Republic.

At a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Twenty-ninth Regiment Association, held September 1, 1877, it was voted to parade as a regiment on the occasion of the dedication of the monument, and General Joseph H. Barnes was chosen to act as Colonel and Commander, Colonel Thomas William Clarke as Lieutenant-Colonel, Major Charles T. Richardson as Major, Lieutenant Henry S. Braden as Adjutant, and Captain D. W. Lee as Quartermaster. On the 7th of September, General Barnes issued a circular letter addressed to the comrades of the regiment, inviting them to parade on the 17th, and requesting them to assemble at 29 Pemberton Square, Boston, at 9 o’clock in the morning of that day.

One hundred and fifty comrades responded promptly to the invitation of their old commander, dressed in dark clothes and wearing their corps and regimental badges. Sergeant Samuel C. Wright, who was wounded in four different battles, was assigned to the proud position of National color-bearer. General Barnes, Colonel Clarke, Major Richardson, Lieutenant Braden, and Captain Lee, were handsomely mounted; elegant wreaths of choice cut-flowers adorning the necks of their fine horses.

The procession moved at a little past 12 o’clock, and the regiment took the position assigned it, in the Second Division, commanded by Colonel Edward O. Shepard; in which also marched the First, Second, Sixth, Ninth, Eleventh, Twelfth, Thirteenth, Twenty-first, Twenty-fourth, Twenty-eighth, Fortieth, Forty-third, Forty-fourth, Forty-fifth Massachusetts Veteran Infantry regiments; also, the Massachusetts Veteran Batteries under Colonel O. F. Nims, the hero of many a battle-field; several Army and Navy Associations; the Third Massachusetts Cavalry; Massachusetts members of General Hooker’s “Old Brigade,” under General Gilman Marston; also the Second New Hampshire Infantry; “Maine Veterans in Massachusetts”; Ninety-ninth New York Infantry, under Colonel David W. Wardrop, and the “Survivors of Rebel Prisons.”

The route of the procession was very extended, and the parade was not concluded till nearly dusk. The day was warm and fine, and it seemed as if every town and city in Massachusetts had emptied their entire population into the streets of Boston. Business in the city was wholly suspended, and the buildings along the route of the procession were tastefully decorated with flowers and bunting. The gay plumes and gaudy uniforms of the militia attracted their usual share of attention; but when the veterans went by, with war-like tramp, carrying the shreds of old war flags, many eyes were wet with tears, and many of the adult spectators gazed with half-quivering lips upon these remnants of the Nation’s Grand Army of Freedom. The presence in the column of Generals McClellan, Hooker, Burnside, and many other old heroes of the war, tended greatly to increase the enthusiasm of the vast throngs of people along the sidewalks, and when a pause was made, hundreds gathered about the carriages in which these soldiers were riding, and greeted them with cheers and gifts of bouquets of fragrant flowers.

The Twenty-ninth made a fine appearance; its mounted officers riding at the head of its column, and the orderly arrangement of its ranks, reminded one forcibly of the bygone days, when it marched in review before its commanding generals; while the earnest, bright faces of the boys showed plainly enough that they had caught again the old spirit that so often, from 1861 to 1865, led them to triumph over the dangers and toils of the war. Captains Leach and Chamberlain, and Surgeon Cogswell, all of whom are somewhat infirm, and were unable to march, and several of the disabled members of the regiment, rode in a carriage in the immediate rear of the regimental column.

The Boston “Home Journal” of September 22 published a very extended and complimentary article concerning the Twenty-ninth Regiment, entitled “Who Are They Now, and Where Are the Rest of Them?” The first part of this question was answered in a manner that must cause its living members and their many friends the keenest satisfaction, while the inquiry, “Where Are the Rest of Them?” which we only have space to quote, touches most tenderly the sweetest and the saddest chords of a soldier’s memory:—

“Where are the rest of them? Half of the living men of 1861 were in the line. The other half are scattered. All parts of the State sent up their contribution. Every New England State sent up its quota. From Maine to Oregon, from the great lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, the residue of the living three hundred are scattered. About seven hundred are dead. The killed in action; the men who died of wounds; the men who died of disease while in the service; the men who died, after their discharge, of disease contracted in the service; the men starved to death in rebel prisons; the men incurably weakened by famine and malaria at Knoxville and Vicksburg and Jackson,—they have all gone. It was the strongest of them that we saw on Monday, the best constitutions, the hardest muscles, the toughest fibres, and all of them were prematurely aged, and the boys’ faces which most of them wore at the time of enlistment, have now no trace of youth in them. To an old comrade, this age, this worn look, was inexpressibly sad, but sadder yet it was to think of the long roll of dead comrades, and how they died.

“And yet, on every man’s face, at some time in the day, in the presence of some old and loved friend, there momentarily returned the transfiguration of youth, and the faces of 1861,—a flash and play of the “battle light” of an earnest, honest, human heart, full of enthusiasm, love, and duty. This was recognizable, and invariably was recognized, no matter how worn and gray the older face and hair might be.

“To have returned to the Commonwealth at least two hundred good citizens, with characters educated by hardships and trials, and by the friendships of the valley of the shadow of death, into a willing and intelligent acquiescence in the rule of law, and the importance of preferring the common weal to mere individual pleasure and profit, is not the least credit of that old regiment; and if the military service has merely succeeded in teaching the necessity of orderly and systematic organization, and the ability to govern one’s self, as it has in most instances everywhere, the work of the war can never be undone, and never should be.”