August 10th the officers met at the Parker House, proceeded to the State House and reported to Adjutant-General Schouler, then to Major Clarke, U. S. Army, to receive their final pay, then to Major McCafferty, U. S. mustering-officer, and were mustered out of service, after being in “Uncle Sam’s” employ about twenty-one months—eighteen months and twenty-one days of the time as prisoners of war.

CHAPTER XIX.
In Service for One Hundred Days—Organization—Readville—Off for Washington—At Alexandria—At Great Falls—Return Home.

A scare existed in Washington, caused by Confederate operations under General Jubal Early, who threatened an invasion of Pennsylvania in order to mask a contemplated dash on Baltimore and Washington.19

Adjutant-General Schouler casually informed Adjutant Davis, whom he met on the street, a call had been received from Washington to send troops immediately for one hundred days’ service. The adjutant had kept up a correspondence with all of the old line officers, for an ultimate purpose of again calling the regiment together when Colonel Burrell was exchanged. Davis mentioned this fact to General Schouler, who at once advanced the idea of again going into service and advised an attempt to do so. The old line officers were consulted, and, as the idea was favored by a majority of them, official orders were issued to go into camp at Readville, Mass., July 18th, 1864.

The following companies were designated to compose the regiment:

Company A, Captain Isaac Scott, of Roxbury; Company B, Captain Benjamin C. Tinkham, of Medway; Company C, Captain Isaac B. White, of Boston; Company D, Captain Samuel A. Waterman, of Roxbury; Company E, Captain Augustus Ford, of Worcester; Company F, Captain Samuel S. Eddy, of Worcester; Company G, Captain Alanson H. Ward, of Worcester; Company H, Captain F. M. Prouty, of Worcester; Company I, Captain James T. Stevens, of Dorchester; Company K, Captain Benjamin R. Wales, of Dorchester.

Active measures were at once instituted to clothe, arm with Enfield rifles, and equip these companies, to be in readiness for a quick departure. Complete uniforms, with equipments, were issued at Readville. Many companies went into camp several days previous to July 18th, gaining recruits every day until ready for muster in for service. Captain Scott failed to recruit more than thirty men. Captain Prouty failed to recruit his company, although at one time it promised well; from some cause his men scattered to other companies or went home. Companies commanded by Captains French and Stewart, already mustered into service, were assigned to the regiment as Companies A and H.

The first regimental morning report was made up July 20th, and showed a strength of thirty-five officers, seven hundred and thirty-eight enlisted men, present and absent. The regiment was ready for marching orders July 23d, with the following strength:

The roster of the regiment was as follows:

Colonel—Isaac S. Burrell.

Lieutenant-Colonel—Joseph Stedman.

Major—Frederick G. Stiles.

Adjutant—Charles A. Davis.

Quartermaster—Alonzo I. Hodsdon.

Surgeon—Albert B. Robinson.

Sergeant-Major—Jediah P. Jordan.

Quartermaster-Sergeant—Charles E. Noyes.

Commissary-Sergeant—Augustus C. Jordan.

Hospital-Steward—Robert White, Jr.

Principal-Musician—Thomas Bowe.

Company A—Captain, Warren French; Lieutenants, Charles W. Baxter and Joseph M. Thomas.

Company B—Captain, Benjamin C. Tinkham; Lieutenants, George W. Ballou and George E. Fuller.

Company C—Captain, Isaac B. White; Lieutenants, Joseph Sanderson, Jr., and David C. Smith.

Company D—Captain, Samuel A. Waterman; Lieutenants, George H. Bates and Almon D. Hodges, Jr.

Company E—Captain, Augustus Ford; Lieutenants, James Conner and Frank H. Cook.

Company F—Captain, Samuel S. Eddy; Lieutenants, Henry J. Jennings and Edward I. Galvin.

Company G—Captain, Alanson H. Ward; Lieutenants, Moses A. Aldrich and E. Lincoln Shattuck.

Company H—Captain, George M. Stewart; Lieutenants, Julius M. Lyon and Joseph T. Spear.

Company I—Captain, James T. Stevens; Lieutenants, Edward Merrill, Jr., and Charles A. Arnold.

Company K—Captain, Benjamin R. Wales; Lieutenants, Alfred G. Gray and Charles P. Hawley.

Officers who resigned and did not accompany the regiment on this second term were: Quartermaster Burrell, Surgeons Hitchcock and Heintzelman, Chaplain Sanger, Sergeant-Major Bosson, Commissary-Sergeant Courtney, Hospital-Steward Wood, Principal-Musician Neuert.20 Of the thirty line officers who served during this second term, Captains Tinkham, White, Waterman and Ford, Lieutenants Sanderson, Ballou, Smith, Cook and Merrill were with the regiment in 1862 and 1863. Colonel Burrell arrived home, from Texas, August 9th, was mustered in for this second term August 10th, and reported at Alexandria September 1st.

The Dorchester Cornet Band volunteered to enlist and become the regimental band. The members were: Leader, Thomas Bowe; Privates Conrad H. Gurlack, Company A; Perham Orcutt, Company B; Horace A. Allyn, George Burleigh, William A. Cowles, John W. Capen, Nathaniel Clark, Lewis Eddy, Edward Lovejoy, Fred. H. Macintosh, Henry B. Sargent, Phillip Sawyer, Andrew J. Wheeler, of Company D; Wells F. Johnson, Company H; Jesse K. Webster, Company I; William A. Cobb and Edward H. Marshall, of Company K.

Two men deserted at Readville, viz.: Private Frederick D. Goodwin, Company C, July 15th; Private Robert Bryden, Company D, July 22d.

The rank and file were a true representative body of Massachusetts citizen soldiery. Three-fourths of the men were born in the State; seventy men were foreign born. Men from a great variety of professions and trades enlisted. About one-half of the regiment were as follows: one hundred and seventy-six salesmen, book-keepers and clerks; twenty-seven students; one hundred and twenty farmers; one hundred and twenty-four journeymen boot and shoe workmen; twenty-seven mill operatives.

The old regimental colors were received in camp July 23d, and under orders to take transports for Washington, promptly at five o’clock A.M., July 24th, the regiment left Readville by special train for Boston, and marched down State Street, about half-past six o’clock, to Battery Wharf, where Companies C, D and E, two hundred and seventy-one men, under command of Major Stiles, embarked on steamer Montauk. The other companies and the band, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Stedman, embarked on steamer McClellan. At nine o’clock both steamers sailed for Washington, and arrived there at noon July 28th, after a good passage, without an important event occurring. This landing the regiment in Washington in ten days after being ordered into camp to recruit and organize can be called quick work.

Reporting to General Augur, commanding Department of Washington, the regiment was sent to Brigadier-General Slough, Military Governor of Alexandria, who ordered it into camp on Shuter’s Hill, near Fort Ellsworth, about one mile from the city. On the morning of July 29th, after breakfast was eaten at the Soldiers’ Rest, in Alexandria, the regiment marched to the ground assigned and occupied log huts, built by other troops when stationed on this hill. In Slough’s command were Battery H, Indiana Light Artillery, one battalion First District Columbia Volunteers, the Second District Columbia Volunteers, the Fifth Wisconsin Volunteers, the Twelfth Regiment Veteran Reserve Corps and the Forty-Second Massachusetts Volunteers. These troops were soon organized into a provisional-brigade and attached to the Twenty-Second Army Corps.

Details for guards and for provost duty were immediately ordered by General Slough, as follows: July 29th—Two officers and one hundred and fifteen men for provost duty. July 31st—Eighteen men every day for patrol duty in Alexandria; thirty-one men to relieve a detachment Veteran Reserve Corps at Sickel’s Barracks Hospital. July 30th—Lieutenants Sanderson, Company C, and Spear, Company H, were detached for duty at headquarters provost-marshal-general, Defences South of Potomac.

At the close of July there was present for duty thirty-two officers and eight hundred and seventy-three men; twenty-eight men sick; three officers and six men absent.

During August the officers and men were kept busy at drill, on guard, provost and patrol duty, which inured them to endure fatigue and become acquainted with the tedious side of a soldier’s life. Train-guards were furnished for trains on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, to protect working and construction parties in constant danger of attacks from guerrillas and obstructions placed upon the track to delay trains; at Fairfax Station, August 15th, the enemy greased the rails, and a train could not proceed—the enemy decamped, not waiting for the train-guard to get a blow at them. Details were sent to Burke’s Station and other places for logs, used to build additional huts for the men. What duty was done in August is shown by the following details, ordered by General Slough:

August 2d—One hundred and thirteen men detailed each day for grand-guard line.

August 6th—Two officers and one hundred and fifty-seven men relieved the Twelfth Regiment Veteran Reserve Corps, in Alexandria; next day this detachment was relieved by the Second Regiment District Columbia Volunteers.

August 7th—A regimental camp guard of fifty men was established.

August 7th—Seventy-five men for train-guards to Fairfax Station, detailed each day until the twenty-third.

August 4th—Seventeen men were detached for permanent duty on the military police in Alexandria.

August 28th—Seventy-five men were detached for duty as hospital attendants in the general hospitals in Alexandria. The hospitals were full of patients.

Details for August were:

4th—Sergeant Alfred Davenport, Company K, clerk at headquarters Department Washington, Twenty-Second Army Corps. Relieved October 29th.

For duty at general court-martial rooms in Alexandria: 1st—Private George S. Partridge, Company B, orderly. 3d—Corporal Thomas J. Rooney, Company B, clerk. 4th—Corporal Edwin H. Holbrook, Company B, clerk.—Private Alfred Noon, Company H, orderly.—Private Richard M. Sabin, Company G, orderly. 9th—Private Ellery C. Bartlett, Company K, clerk. 13th—Private J. H. S. Pearson, Company C, clerk.

On detached service at headquarters provost-marshal-general: 1st—Private H. W. Tolman, Company A, orderly. 2d—Private William S. French, Company F, orderly.—Private Alvin S. Pratt, Company F, orderly. 10th—Private Jno. R. Graham, Company A, orderly. 24th—Private William G. Kidder, Company C, clerk.—Corporal George Dunbar, Company D, clerk.

On detached service at headquarters military governor: 4th—Private Herbert W. Hitchcock, Company H, orderly. 5th—Private Fred. S. Dickinson, Company G, orderly. 11th—Private Hiram E. Smith, Company H, clerk. 13th—Private J. Clark Reed, Company C, clerk.—Private Thomas J. McKay, Company F, clerk.

The officers on detached service were: 2d—Lieutenant Shattuck, Company G, on permanent duty with city patrol in Alexandria. 9th—Lieutenant Hodges, Company D, on permanent duty at headquarters provost-marshal-general. 10th—Lieutenant Thomas, Company A, on permanent duty in command of guard at Hunting Creek Bridge block-house, under the orders of provost-marshal-general. 12th—Lieutenant Ballou, Company B, was detailed for permanent duty with the military police of Alexandria, to relieve Lieutenant Shattuck, who was not active and experienced enough to suit General Slough.

The officers detailed for general court-martial duty were: Captains Tinkham, Waterman, Ford and Ward, from July 31st; Major Stiles, Lieutenants Baxter and Jennings, from August 6th.

The enlisted men on detailed daily duty were: Private W. A. G. Hooton, Company A, nurse at regimental hospital; Private Mathias F. Chaffin, Company E, nurse at regimental hospital; Private Albert H. Newhall, Company E, nurse at regimental hospital; Private Henry C. Chenery, Company F, nurse at regimental hospital; Private Seth Albee, Company E, nurse at regimental hospital; Private Simon C. Spear, Company C, nurse at regimental hospital; Private Ezra Abbott, Company A, chief wagoner; Private George A. Harwood, Company B, wagoner; Private Thomas Belton, Company C, wagoner; Private Elma H. French, Company F, wagoner; Private Samuel W. Whittemore, Company I, wagoner; Private George W. Abbott, Company I, wagoner; Privates Oliver C. Andrews, Alonzo D. Crockett, Mark Heathcote, of Company G, as a permanent guard at the reservoir in rear of camp near Fort Ellsworth, from August 6th; Privates William G. Kidder, Company C, James Allen, Company E, Hermion J. Gilbert and Charles E. Chase, of Company F, orderlies at regimental headquarters; Private Henry R. Gilmore, Company F, acting drum-major.

It was necessary to discipline one man in August—Private Samuel Young, Company E, for firing his musket without permission or orders. He had to carry a forty-pound log of wood tied to his back for a stated number of hours each day for two days.

At the close of August there was present for duty: twenty-nine officers, seven hundred and forty-eight men; one officer, forty-two men sick. Absent: five officers, one hundred and seven men on detached service, four men sick, two men in arrest.

Duty in September was about the same as in August, the regiment constantly furnishing details of men for grand-guard and other guards. Drills were maintained with what few men were in camp and some progress made in this direction, but all efforts to advance the regiment in drill could not be satisfactory to officers in command, because of this absence of men each day.

September 14th—Company G, Captain Ward, went on duty as a permanent guard at the Soldiers’ Rest in Alexandria.

September 16th—All troops in the command were paraded to witness an execution of a private Fourth Maryland Volunteers, shot for desertion, at eleven A.M., in the open field northwest of Sickel Barracks Hospital. The negroes in and around Alexandria made a gala occasion of the affair, with tents pitched near the spot for sales of cake, pies, lemonade, etc. So far as appearances went the man to be shot, a thick-set fellow, with heavy, black whiskers, was more indifferent to his fate than the soldiers formed to occupy three sides of a square, obliged to be unwilling witnesses. On the open side were gathered a curious crowd of colored people. The condemned man was marched upon the ground, a band playing a dirge. He was followed by a faithful Newfoundland dog, who had to be taken away when his master took position in front of his coffin, face to the firing party. In a speech he confessed to being a professional bounty-jumper, worth at that moment near twenty thousand dollars, the proceeds of his work in jumping sixteen bounties. When the detail of soldiers fired upon him he fell lengthwise upon his coffin. The troops were then filed past him, and had just commenced the movement when signs of life were shown, necessitating a second file of men to be ordered up and put another volley into him.

At nine o’clock P.M., September 22d, orders were received to march four companies at once to Great Falls, on the Potomac, above Washington, and relieve the Eighty-Fourth N. Y. S. V. Militia, on picket duty for protection of the water works. This order came from headquarters Department Washington, and urged promptness in its execution. A guide was also sent to pilot the detachment. Companies B, C, D and E, with enough detailed men to fill up the ranks, with three days’ rations, and forty rounds of ammunition in the boxes, were at once started on a march of about twenty-five miles, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Stedman. This march was not made in a manner creditable to the regiment. At first it was believed a fight was in progress or imminent, and while such belief lasted the men should have been kept well in hand to be of any use. The facts are: a halt was made about one o’clock A.M., and the men slept on the ground until after daylight, and then straggled into Great Falls during the afternoon and evening in a manner not suggestive of a well-conducted march. Fortunately no fight took place, and no harm resulted. Officers and men of this Eighty-Fourth New York (an Irish regiment) were found loitering around a tavern, more or less under the effects of liquor. This tavern was kept by a Mr. Jackson, brother to the Jackson who killed Colonel Ellsworth in Alexandria at the commencement of hostilities.

Lieutenant-Colonel Stedman reported on the twenty-fourth that so far as he could ascertain the duty at Great Falls would be to take care of themselves as well as they could, to keep a few pickets out on the roads leading to his camp, with a few men on the canal to prevent smuggling. The colonel Eighty-Fourth New York said he never had any orders, and acted as his judgment dictated in all matters at the post; he never made any reports to any one, and had been visited by a staff-officer but once. Stedman also reported the place extremely unhealthy, with chills and fever a prevailing complaint. Stedman’s strength was then three hundred and fifty-six men. The Eighty-Fourth numbered six hundred and fifty men, and did have, at one time, two hundred and fifty men sick.

Stedman wrote Colonel Burrell, on the twenty-fifth, as follows: “Captain Stewart has arrived, and I learn that arrangements have been made for four companies to remain here permanently, and that the balance of the men belonging to these four companies are soon to be sent here. Allow me to inquire if the balance of the officers have been thought of—viz., Lieutenant Sanderson, Company C, Lieutenant Ballou, Company B, and Lieutenant Hodges, Company D? I cannot get along without the full complement of officers for these companies, and I trust they will be relieved at once and ordered to report to me at this post. I shall be obliged to have one for adjutant and one for quartermaster, thus leaving me only ten others for duty; hence the necessity of these officers above named being sent.

“We shall have to secure some transportation here, but as yet I do not know what arrangements we can make for this necessity. We have a post-commissary here, but have to go eleven miles for soft bread. The nearest post-quartermaster is six miles away, at Muddy Branch. After a few days we can make the men quite comfortable, but the place is not a very agreeable one to be in.”

Company C, Captain White, was sent to Orcutt’s Cross Roads, three miles away, September 30th, where was stored a quantity of quartermaster’s property. Guerrillas were operating in the vicinity. A stockade was set on fire and destroyed by them, and an attempt made to blow up the aqueduct, frustrated by tavern-keeper Jackson, who was well known to the Confederates and on good terms with them. General Sheridan, by his operations in the Shenandoah Valley, caused a lull in the fun carried on by these guerrillas, so that the Forty-Second Massachusetts detachment did not have much to do beyond picket and guard duty.

Lieutenant-Colonel Stedman remained at Great Falls until October 15th, when he was ordered back to his regiment with three companies. Captain Tinkham, with Company B, was left at the post. A suggestion from Colonel Burrell, October 18th, to build a stockade, as the position invited an attack, brought the following reply:

“Headquarters Company B, 42d Mass. Vols.,
“Great Falls, Md., October 19th, 1864.

“Colonel,—I received your dispatch of the eighteenth, for which I am very grateful. My company is small, and what men I have are getting sick very fast, so that I have not men enough to carry out your advice. However, I will do the best I can, and shall not leave here until I know what I leave for. There are several of my company still in Alexandria, whom I wish could be sent to me. Would like to have General Slough informed of my situation.

“Very respectfully yours, “B. C. TINKHAM, “Captain commanding post.”

The enemy began to make trouble immediately after the three companies left. Guerrillas would stop canal boats, untie the horses and make off with them, until this nuisance was partly abated by the use of old, worn-out mules that did not present such temptation. The canal traffic was seriously interrupted, and caused Captain Tinkham to picket the canal for two miles, until ordered back to his regiment October 28th. Pennsylvania troops relieved Company B, and a short time after were attacked by the enemy.

Cases for discipline in September were as follows: 1st—Private Martin Monighan, Company E, for firing his musket without permission, was sentenced to carry a forty-pound log of wood tied to his back for a stated number of hours each day for three days. 17th—Corporal Pond, Company B, and three privates on duty with him in Alexandria, were sent to that city, by orders from General Slough, to serve sentences for neglect of duty. 27th—Private Elisha Atwood, Company A, was sent to Alexandria for confinement in the slave pen, for neglect of duty. 30th—Corporal William Bacon, Company A, was reduced to the ranks for intoxication, by regimental Special Orders No. 78.

This is not a bad record for a raw regiment of short-term men. A practice had been in vogue for captains to assume the power to order punishment of men in their companies guilty of trifling indiscretions. Captain French was noted for this stretch of power. This was stopped by the colonel on assuming command. He maintained that no man should be punished without a hearing.

Details in September were as follows:

On detached service at headquarters military governor: 6th—Private Sidney W. Knowles, Company C, clerk. 20th—Corporal John Stetson, Jr., Company K, clerk.—Private Herbert W. Fay, Company F, clerk.—Private Edward S. Averill, Company B, clerk. 22d—Private Frederick A. Clark, Company K, clerk.—Private Christopher F. Snelling, Company K, clerk.

On detached service at general court-martial rooms in Alexandria: 1st—Private Ansel F. Temple, Company I, clerk. 13th—Private Davis W. Howard, Company I, clerk.—Private Edward L. Harvey, Company B, clerk.—Private Benjamin W. Kenyon, Company E, clerk.—Private James L. Martin, Company C, clerk.—Private Arthur E. Hotchkiss, Company B, clerk.—Private William L. Gage, Company I, clerk.—Private George E. Sparr, Company H, orderly. 14th—Private Charles Curtis, Company D, clerk.

On detailed duty with the regiment: 7th—Corporal James L. Prouty, Company D, clerk at headquarters. 14th—Privates W. F. Adams, W. H. S. Ritchie, George E. Buttrick, of Company A, were placed on permanent guard at the reservoir, relieving Privates Edgerton, Heathcote and Andrews, of Company G. 16th—Private George L. Simpson, Company F, hospital attendant. 21st—Private George W. Brooks, Company K, hospital attendant. 24th—Private Albert S. Barpee, Company E, hospital attendant. 29th—Private Ezra K. Garvin, Company F, with quartermaster.

Officers on detached service in September were: Lieutenants Sanderson and Spear on permanent duty with grand-guard, a line of sentinels stationed between the Forty-Second camp and Alexandria. Lieutenants Hodges and Ballou on permanent duty with provost-marshal-general. Lieutenant Thomas with a permanent guard at Hunting Creek Bridge, where an artillery block-house was built. Lieutenant Hawley was detached on mounted patrol service, in answer to a request from General Slough for an experienced cavalry-officer. Captain Ward, Lieutenants Aldrich and Shattuck, Company G, on guard at Soldier’s Rest since September 14th. On detached service at Great Falls were Lieutenant-Colonel Stedman, Captains Tinkham, White, Waterman and Ford, Lieutenants Fuller, Smith, Bates, Conner and Cook. Lieutenant Galvin was absent in Philadelphia on sick leave.

At the close of September there was present for duty: seventeen officers, three hundred and seventy-eight men; twenty-six men sick. Absent: eighteen officers, four hundred and sixty men on detached service; one officer, twenty-two men sick; three men in arrest.

There was no chance for any camp fun in October, for officers and men were constantly on duty, day and night, in obedience to orders for guards, patrols and pickets, that came thick and fast. Details of men were called for by mounted orderlies, with verbal orders, at all hours of the day and night, in addition to details mentioned later on. Adjutant Davis, not in good health, manfully stood to his duty in exceptionally trying circumstances. To fill these constant requisitions from among grumbling men in a raw regiment, already overworked, was not an easy matter. To do so, men who just reported in camp from some long tour of guard or patrol service were obliged to again depart from camp, swearing like troopers, on a like service. After four companies left for Great Falls, members of the band were made to resume duty in the ranks and go on the regular camp guard; at one time not relieved for sixteen days, men were so scarce and the difficulty so great to comply with these orders.

Duty done by the regiment, required by written orders, was: September 29th and 30th—One officer and forty men sent to guard stores to Fairfax Station. October 2d—One officer and fifty men as train-guard on Orange and Alexandria Railroad. October 2d—Captain Ward, with fifty men, to guard a telegraph construction party running a line of wire from Manassas or Warrenton Junction, on the Manassas Gap Railroad. Captain Ward and his men had a skirmish with the enemy’s cavalry, on the fourth, near Gainesville, and drove them back without loss. October 3d—One officer and fifty men, with detachments First and Second D. C. Volunteers, as guard for a construction train on Orange and Alexandria Railroad. October 4th—One officer and forty men on same service. October 5th—One officer and fifty men on same service. October 5th—Seven men as permanent guard at coal wharf. October 6th—One officer and twenty-five men to guard a special train. October 12th—One officer and thirty picked men on duty for three days with mounted patrols and pickets, to be relieved every three days. This order was in force until October 27th. October 13th—One officer and twenty-five men for train-guard. October 17th—Four officers and one hundred men, with two days’ rations, were sent every day, until October 27th, for train-guards. Of this detail two officers and fifty men went on duty at 3.45 A.M., and two officers and fifty men at ten A.M.

These details were in addition to the regular camp-guard, men for grand-guard duty and men for the pickets stationed outside the grand-guard line. Nearly all the trains were freighted with supplies for General Sheridan, after communication with him was opened. Every two or three miles along the railroad were guard-stations, in block-houses, on account of the guerrillas who infested the line of road. None of the Forty-Second detachments had a chance to test their mettle with the enemy, except the slight skirmish by Captain Ward’s men. At Rectortown one train came along just in time to allow the Forty-Second guard to help get a cavalry-post out of an unpleasant position; the enemy retreated without a fight.

Details in October for daily duty with the regiment were: 1st—Private Peter Broso, Company F, on duty with quartermaster. 1st—Private A. W. Mitchell, Company A, orderly at headquarters. 1st—Private Edwin H. Alger, Company D, as wagoner.

One case for discipline occurred: Corporal Albert F. Burnham, Company A, was reduced to the ranks October 24th, for leaving camp without leave. On an appeal for a hearing, made by Burnham, an inquiry was held in his case by officers detailed for the purpose. They justified the degradation.

The officers detailed on court-martial duty in September were: Lieutenant-Colonel Stedman, Captains French, Eddy, Stewart, Stevens and Wales, and Lieutenant Gray. Every captain in the regiment, except White, did service on general court-martial duty. Major Stiles was constantly on general court-martial duty by details of August 6th and September 20th, and not relieved until October 15th, when the following order was issued:

“Headquarters Military Governor,
“Alexandria, Va., October 15th, 1864.

“General Orders No. 84.

“1—The general court-martial convened by paragraph 2, General Orders No. 57, headquarters Military Governor, Alexandria, Va., dated September 20th, 1864, of which Major Frederick G. Stiles, Forty-Second Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, is president, is hereby dissolved.

“2—This court has since its first organization (August 8th, 1864), disposed of over six hundred cases, and the general commanding desires to compliment the members composing it for the energetic, faithful and satisfactory manner in which they have transacted the business referred to them.

“By command of

“BRIGADIER-GENERAL SLOUGH, “W. M. Gwynne, “Captain, and A. A. A. General.”

At the close of October there was present for duty (all officers and men were relieved from detached or detailed service) thirty-five officers, seven hundred and ninety-nine men; one officer, seventy-five men sick. Absent: nine men sick in hospitals.

The term of service expired October 29th. A request was made for transportation via Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston to place of muster out, instead of returning home by a sea voyage. The regiment vacated camp and quartered in the Soldier’s Rest, Alexandria, October 28th, until relieved from duty in the command. This was on Sunday, October 30th, after a review by General Slough. Monday morning, thirty-first, the regiment marched to Washington, and was received by President Lincoln in front of the White House at nine o’clock. Cheers from the men, a few remarks by the President, and then the march was resumed to the depot to take cars en-route home, arriving in Boston late on Thursday evening, November 3d, and quartered in Faneuil Hall. After breakfast next morning the regiment marched to Boston Common and was there dismissed, to assemble on Friday, November 11th, for muster out of service.21

This journey home was full of discomfort for those officers who did their duty. It was a time of great political excitement in New York City. On this account the regiment retained its arms, and twenty rounds of ammunition was in each cartridge-box. In New York the regiment remained at the Battery all day, and marched up Broadway about five P.M. Crowds of people lined the street and cheered alternately for Lincoln and McClellan, the men answering these cheers impartially to avoid trouble. While in Forty-Second Street, where the men remained until late next morning, when a train was made up to proceed on to Boston, there was bad behaviour by various men of the regiment, who became drunk and disorderly. Some of these men fired their muskets, which, coupled with a fire that broke out in the vicinity, was sufficient to cause considerable alarm among people who resided near. Much blame is attachable to officers for their lukewarm endeavors to stop this unsoldierlike conduct.

About one hundred sick men were brought home, some of whom ought not to have left Alexandria, but they were anxious to go home with their comrades. To properly look out for these men was no easy matter. A delay of several hours occurred in Baltimore before transportation across the city could be found for the sick, Colonel Burrell positively refusing to move his regiment and leave them to follow after, as he was advised to do by some of his officers. Orders were given that in case any sick man was obliged to be left at any place en-route, one man was to be detailed to remain with him.

At Alexandria the aqueduct was out of order, and well-water was used for drinking purposes; but so bad was this water, a limited quantity of beer was allowed to be sold in camp. Train-guards, hurriedly called for and immediately sent away, had no time to fill haversacks with ample rations, often obliged to start with hard bread as their chief eatable. Of course, this had an effect on the men, a large proportion being under twenty-five years of age, many of them under twenty years, who did not have the advantage of a few months in a camp of instruction and get well seasoned to a soldier’s life before they were called upon to endure the arduous and exacting service they saw in Virginia.22 During the last weeks in September and through October there was an average of fifty men sick in camp, and forty men absent sick in Alexandria hospitals.

The regimental hospital tent, of limited accommodations, was always full, and all surplus sick men who required hospital care were sent to Alexandria. The weather was favorable in August and September; October was stormy, and nights cold.

The regiment lost sixteen men by death during this term of service. The bodies of those men who died in Alexandria were sent home. The deaths were:

August 14th—Private George H. Rich, Company B, in third division hospital, from accidental wounds while on guard.

August 24th—Private Richard M. Sabin, Company G, in third division hospital, from acute dysentery.

September 11th—Private Edwin A. Grant, Company B, in third division hospital, from typhoid fever.

September 11th—Private Lyman Tucker, Company F, in regimental hospital, from typhoid fever.

September 18th—Private Samuel Stone, Company F, in third division hospital, from typhoid fever.

September 20th—Private George G. Harrington, Company F, in third division hospital, from typhoid fever.

September 23d—Private Herman J. Gilbert, Company F, in third division hospital, from typhoid fever.

September 25th—Private Edward H. Aldrich, Company G, in Soldier’s Rest Hospital, from typho-malarial fever. (Aldrich was a student, borne on the rolls, but never mustered in.)

October 4th—Private Patrick Riley, Company G, in third division hospital, from pyæmia. Riley was shot in the leg by a secessionist of Alexandria, on August 27th. Amputation was necessary, from which he did not recover.

October 5th—Private Henry H. Lowell, Company F, in second division hospital, from typhoid fever.

October 8th—Private Walter Foster, 2d., Company D, in second division hospital, from suicide by drowning; insanity.

October 24th—Private William T. Cutler, Company F, in third division hospital, from typhoid fever.

October 26th—Private Calvin S. Haynes, Company C, Slough Barracks Hospital, from typhoid fever.

October 30th—Private John J. Bisbee, Company H, Slough Barracks Hospital, from chronic diarrhœa.

November 7th—Private Thomas E. Flemming, Company A, at Roxbury, Mass., from sore leg.

November 17th—Private William H. Perry, Company A, at Boston, Mass., from consumption.

There were eight men discharged from service, by Major-General Augur, Twenty-Second Army Corps, for disability, viz.: Sergeant William H. Alexander, Company C, September 10th; Private Willard L. Studley, Company D, September 10th; Private Wendell Davis, Company H, September 13th; Corporal Jerome P. Thurber, Company G, September 13th; Private Nathan Washburne, Company C, September 16th; Private Jason Whitaker, Company E, September 19th; Private Henry W. Dean, Company I, September 20th; Private Albert E. Frost, Company K, September 20th.

One man reënlisted for one year in the Thirty-Eighth Massachusetts Volunteers: Private Andrew C. Hale, Company H, September 8th.

By regimental General Orders No. 111, issued November 6th, at Roxbury, Mass., the following men were relieved from detailed daily duty at headquarters, with a complimentary notice for their faithful service: Private Ezra Abbott, Company A, chief wagoner; Private James Allen, Company E, orderly; Private Ellery C. Bartlett, Company K, clerk.

As Chaplain Sanger could not get permission from his church people in Webster, Mass., to serve one hundred days with his regiment, an attempt was made to obtain a commission for Second-Lieutenant Galvin, Company F, a regularly ordained clergyman from Brookfield, Mass., who was unanimously elected by his brother officers, August 10th, to fill that position. Through unavoidable delays and informality in the proper papers, no progress was made towards securing his appointment until late in September. Lieutenant Galvin was then absent in Philadelphia on sick leave, and it was doubtful if he would be able to rejoin his regiment before the term of service expired. Difficulties also existed in obtaining a muster dated back, so his appointment was abandoned. He officiated as chaplain for a few weeks only.

One payment was made to the regiment, the last week in September, when the men were paid for July and August. The following ladies, wives of officers, boarded at a hotel in Alexandria, and saw what constitutes camp life in time of war: Mrs. Burrell, Mrs. Stedman, Mrs. Stiles, Mrs. Robinson, Mrs. Ford.

This brief sketch is sufficient to prove that the one-hundred-day men did not have a picnic during their service. To be sure, the regiment did not get into an action: a stroke of good luck. The various train-guard detachments were liable to have a fight at any moment, and, until back in camp, were kept ready for such a contingency.

In conclusion the writer would add: Let no man who enlisted in a three years regiment sneer at the nine months troops, or those who served a shorter term. A large number reënlisted later on in other organizations, and served to the end of the war. Their previous service was of great benefit wherever they went; in fact, they were not raw recruits. The three years man who served continuously with his colors is a rarity.

It does not follow that every man who enlisted in the army is entitled to credit for so doing. “Bummers” and shirks were plenty. When a thousand men are got together there must be a percentage of this element among them. The most worthy and deserving men do not have much to say about their army experience, and never drag it into prominence for selfish reasons.

No undue importance is intended in naming men who were on detached daily duty as clerks, orderlies, etc.; such places were considered “soft berths,” although much hard work was done by many of the detailed men. The soldier who remained with his colors, and did duty like a man, is the one to whom most praise is due.