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Theodore Safford Peck, Civil War Hero Who Left No Comrade Behind

If you ever visit Burlington, Vt., and find yourself wandering around the Lakeview Cemetery, you might chance upon what otherwise at first is an unremarkable grave site. You have to walk directly upon it to notice the government-issued bronze plaque placed flat into the ground. It reads:” THEODORE SAFFORD PECK – MEDAL OF HONOR – BVT MAJ GEN CO H 9 VT INF – CIVIL WAR – MAR 22 1843 – MAR 15 1918.”

Theodore Safford Peck as adjutant general of the Vermont National Guard

Those few words sum up the man’s life. They don’t tell the story of his struggles — rejection by the Army four times, surrender, a coward’s label. And they certainly don’t describe the astounding feat of heroism that earned him the Medal of Honor.

Theodore Safford Peck Enlists, Finally

Peck was born in Burlington on March 22, 1843, the son of Theodore Augustus Peck and Delia Horton Safford. The oldest of the five Peck children, he had two brothers and two sisters. A brother and sister died young.

The 1860 Census lists Theodore’s occupation as a clerk. He probably worked for his father, a druggist in Burlington.

The first shots of the American Civil War were fired on April 12, 1861 at Fort Sumter, S.C. Just under six months later, Theodore Safford Peck enlisted successfully — on his fifth try — in the 1st Vermont Cavalry Regiment, Company K. His rank, quartermaster sergeant, most likely reflected his civilian occupation.

The Battle of Winchester

During his short time with the 1^st Vermont Cavalry, the regiment saw action at the Battle of Winchester on May 25, 1862. The battle was a major victory for the Confederates during Stonewall Jackson’s Shenandoah Valley campaign.

Peck won promotion to full quartermaster sergeant on June 27, 1862, and mustered out of the 1^st Vermont Cavalry on the same day. He then joined Company S, 9^th Vermont Volunteer Infantry Regiment, presumably as a quartermaster sergeant, on July 9, 1862. It’s not clear why he made the change.

‘Almost Imbecility’

The regiment was organized at Brattleboro, Vt. The army then sent it to Washington without any real formal training, like most newly formed regiments. From there the regiment went to Virginia. Less than a month after its formation, the 9th Vermont retreated from the Shenandoah Valley to Harper’s Ferry, Virginia (West Virginia in 1863).

Dixon Miles at Harpers Ferry

Unluckily for the regiment, it had a commander who ranked as one of the most useless and incompetent Union Army officers: Col. Dixon S. Miles. The army had court-martialed him for drunkenness during the First Battle of Bull Run. For some now unfathomable and unfortunate reason, he had orders to defend the vital Harpers Ferry arsenal.

Confronted by Confederate forces under Stonewall Jackson, Miles surrendered his entire force on Sept. 15, 1862. He offered only token resistance. Among those captured: the 9^th Vermont and Sgt. Theodore Safford Peck.

A later board of inquiry described Miles’ character: “incapacity, amounting to almost imbecility [for] the shameful surrender of this important post.”

Labeled Cowards

The Confederates had marched through Harpers Ferry to Maryland and their ultimate defeat at Antietam. But Jackson had no time to detach troops to guard the huge hoard of Union prisoners. So he paroled them. Parole meant they could return to the Union Army. However, they couldn’t participate in active operations until exchanged for a like number of Confederate prisoners.

Confederate prisoners at Camp Douglas, around 1863

Unfortunately for the regiments that surrender under Miles’ command, people labeled them cowards. Though unfair, as they had no say in Miles’ actions, they nonetheless had to live with the fact.

Unable to take part in active combat, the 9^th Vermont and Peck were sent to Chicago as guards for Confederate prisoners at Camp Douglas. Theodore Safford Peck won promotion to full second lieutenant on Jan. 8, 1863. Two days later, the regiment was finally exchanged.

Still not fully trusted, the regiment went to guard Confederate prisoners at City Point, Va. That assignment lasted only a couple of weeks before the necessities of war sent them south to the garrison at Suffolk, Va. There they joined Wardrop’s Reserve Brigade, 7^th Army Corps, Department of Virginia.

As soon as the 9th Vermont arrived in the spring of 1863, Gen. James Longstreet’s Confederate forces embroiled them in the Siege of Suffolk, Va. It lasted from April 13 to May 4. The Union Army held the garrison, but Longstreet’s troops had managed to forage for supplies during the standoff.

James Longstreet

After helping raise the siege, the 9th Vermont took part in several small actions. It then went to New Bern, N.C., remaining in the area for several months and taking part in small actions.

Newport Barracks, N.C.

Near Newport, N.C., the Union Army held a small outpost that guarded a railroad trestle bridge, a key link in the supply routes between East Coast ports and New Bern, N.C. The Union had won the Battle of New Bern in 1862, which enabled it to control the North Carolina coast.

The advance of the Gunboats up the river to New Berne, N. Carolina.

On Feb. 2, 1864, Confederate forces overran the Newport Barracks. Two thousand Confederate infantry, 400 cavalry and 14 artillery pieces outnumbered the 750 Union troops at the barracks. The Union soldiers retreated. Company B and Company H, commanded by 2nd Lt. Theodore Safford Peck, had orders to guard the rear of the retreating forces.

Two bridges over the Newport River formed the only line of retreat for the Union soldiers. They also formed the only line of advance for the Confederates. Lt. Peck had orders to hold the bridges until the Union forces had crossed and then fire them. The Roster of Vermont Volunteers During the War of the Rebellion…Deeds of Valor, describes what happened.

“The left of the Union line lay near the river, while the right was in the woods, and commended (sic) by First Lieutenant Theodore S. Peck Company H, Ninth Vermont Infantry. The line was continually pressed back by the enemy, and made eleven different stands before reaching the Newport River, over which there were two bridges, one a railroad bridge and the other a county bridge…”

No Turpentine, No Cavalry

Peck had been promised turpentine and tar, along with a cavalry contingent to support him, would be waiting at the bridges. They must destroy the bridge at all cost.

“Lieutenant Peck made a desperate fight all afternoon, and had been the farthest out toward the enemy the entire time, holding them in check until they had broken through the line on his left. At this time the Union troops had mostly crossed the railroad and county bridges…while Lieutenant Peck’s rear guard was hotly engaged with the Confederates, who were close at his heels.”

When Peck sent a man to check the bridge, he reported back that he found no supplies to burn the bridge and no cavalry anywhere.

Medal of Honor

“Lieutenant Peck, leaving one-half of his men with their officers, fighting the enemy, ran with the other half down the hill to the bridge, determined to destroy the same, if possible. Finding that some of the planks were not spiked down, he had these torn up, and being fortunate in finding plenty of dry grass…he had the same placed in readiness for burning the bridge, then ordered his men, who were fighting, to stop firing and rush across.

His men instantly obeyed the order, though the enemy came forward on the run, killing and wounding some of them. As soon as the men crossed the bridge they started firing on the enemy, while others ignited the dead grass.

“The Confederates brought up a battery, and poured in grape and canister. In the rush, Sergeant Charles F. Branch was wounded and left behind, a fact which, instantly it became known to Peck, caused him to rush back across the now burning bridge, to the sergeant, and half carrying him in his arms, succeeded, in spite of a shower of bullets and shell and in momentary danger of death…”

They succeeded in destroying both bridges in the face of overwhelming enemy fire. While the river was narrow, it had high bluffs and was deep, and the Confederates could not ford it in time to halt the Union retreat. Then-2nd Lt. Theodore Safford Peck won the Medal of Honor for his actions that day. Peck was promoted to first lieutenant on June 10, 1864, and to captain on March 11, 1865.

More Fighting

The 9^th Vermont remained in the New Bern area until September 1864, when it went north to join Ulysses S. Grant’s army at the protracted siege of Petersburg and Richmond, Va. The siege actions included a formal siege and a series of individual battles. The 9th Vermont fought in several of them. Peck was wounded in action during one battle, the Battle of Fort Harrison.

Fort Burnham, Virginia, the former Confederate Fort Harrison. Federal soldiers in front of bomb-proof headquarters.

The wound must not have been too serious since he remained with the regiment, which then fought in the Battle of Fair Oaks.

Immediately after the battle, it was sent to New York City to guard against possible rioting during the upcoming presidential election. It then returned to the Richmond siege lines and took part in the final assault on the city on April 2, 1865.

Battle of Fair Oaks, by Currier & Ives

Captain Peck marched with the 9^th Vermont as one of the first to enter and occupy Richmond.

After performing various occupation duties around Virginia, he mustered out with the rest of the regiment on Dec. 1, 1865.

Marriage and Money

Returning to Burlington, Theodore Peck began a career in insurance, and in 1869 he founded T.S. Peck Insurance. In time, it would grow into one of the largest insurance companies in Vermont. It is still in existence in 2023.

T.S. Peck

Peck was also involved in local businesses and served on the board of directors of several Burlington manufacturing companies.

In 1879, he married Agnes Louise Lesslie from Toronto, Canada, in Manhattan, New York at her uncle’s residence. They had one daughter, Theodora Agnes Peck.

Grand Army of the Republic program for an encampment in 1900

Like most Union Civil War veterans, Theodore Peck remained active in the Grand Army of the Republic. He served as president of the Society of the Army of the Potomac at the time of his death. He belonged to many civic organizations. They included the Society of Colonial Wars, General Society of the War of 1812, Military Order of Foreign Wars, the Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Ethan Allen Club, Algonquin Club and the Lake Champlain Yacht Club. A Freemason, he served as grandmaster of the Vermont Lodge for 10 years.

Later Life of Theodore Safford Peck

Unlike most Civil War veterans, however, Theodore Peck remained a part of the military. From 1881 to 1900 he served as its adjutant general in the Vermont National Guard as a brigadier.

His relationship with the military remained firm. In 1891, President Benjamin Harrison appointed him to the West Point Board of Visitors. He also commanded the Medal of Honor Legion (now the Legion of Valor). And he received an honorary degree in 1896 from Norwich University in Northfield, Vt., then a military school second only to West Point.

Grave marker of Theodore Safford Peck

After a full and active life, Brevet Maj. Gen. Theodore Safford Peck, Medal of Honor, died on March 15, 1918 in Burlington from heart complications.

William E. Utley has an M.A. in Military HIstory from Norwich University. Theodore Safford Peck is his 3^rd cousin, three times removed.

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The New England Defenders of the Alamo

Among the defenders of the Alamo, at least eight came from New England to start a new life. Those lives were cut short, like all the others besieged for 13 days in the old Spanish mission.

This is the story of those men who traveled from every New England state for a piece of land to support a home and a family.

Gone To Texas

After the Mexican Revolution of 1824, the Mexican government offered very generous land grants to people to come and settle in the region of Texas. The government offered the grants on condition the recipients become Mexican citizens and adopt Catholicism.

This project succeeded so well that within a few years Americans outnumbered Mexicans in Texas. As many as 135,000 U.S. citizens made the move.

In fact, so many left their homes in the States that when they didn’t pay their taxes the tax rolls commonly noted GTT, “Gone to Texas.”

As you will see, many of these men made their way to Texas via New Orleans. They did it because the river network was the easiest way to travel among the states. If you could connect with the Ohio River you could then connect with the Mississippi and then on down to New Orleans and, finally, across into Texas.

The Americans in Texas began to petition the Mexican government to change the requirements for the land grants. When that failed, they really started to agitate.

The Alamo

General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna moved the Mexican Army into Texas to quell the unrest and bring the Americans to heel. It culminated in a 13-day siege at the Alamo, a makeshift fort that had once served as a Spanish mission.

About 100 men had been stationed at the Alamo. Before the siege began, William Travis and James Bowie, who would eventually co-command the fort, arrived with some reinforcements.

The siege began on Feb. 23, 1836, when Santa Anna marched 1,500 Mexican troops into San Antonio. He raised a blood-red flag demanding unconditional surrender. In response, the defenders of the Alamo fired off an 18-pound cannon, which volunteer militiamen – including two from New England — had dragged all the way from New Orleans.

The two sides skirmished for 10 days. Travis knew the garrisoned men couldn’t stand up to the Mexicans, so he wrote letters to Texas and the United States begging for supplies and reinforcements.

He sent his final and most famous appeal for help to the people of Gonzales, Texas, addressed “To the people of Texas and all Americans in the world.”

I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch.

New England Defenders of the Alamo

Travis gave the letter to a Rhode Islander named Albert Martin, who commanded the regiment from the town of Gonzales, 70 miles to the east. Martin carried the letter to Gonzales, and then returned to the Alamo with his regiment. Among the men who would earn the title of the ‘Immortal 32,’ was a fellow New Englander, John Flanders.

The Gonzales Regiment sneaked through enemy lines after dark and made it back into the Alamo.

The Mexican Army finally began to move on the Alamo in the early hours of March 6. The defenders fended off two attacks, but couldn’t withstand the third.

Among the last of the Alamo defenders to die were the Invincibles, artillerymen who manned 12-pound cannons from the chapel.

Santa Anna’s army spared none of the defenders of the Alamo. In the end, between 182 and 257 men died in the battle, while about 600 Mexican troops were killed or wounded. The Mexicans spared a few civilians, who told the story of the Alamo.

The Fall of the Alamo, by Robert Jenkins Onderdonk.

Santa Anna’s cruelty inspired more men to join the Texan Army. Less than two months later, the Texans defeated the Mexican Army at the Battle of San Jacinto.

Following are descriptions of the eight defenders of the Alamo.

Albert Martin, Rhode Island

Albert Martin, was born in Providence, R. I. in 1808. He attended the American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy in Connecticut which would later move to Vermont and become Norwich University. He left Rhode Island in 1832 with his family and set up a business in Tennessee. From there he and his family migrated to New Orleans, where they set up yet another family business in 1835.

Albert moved to Texas and set up a branch of their general store in Gonzales, Texas, Martin, Cofflin & Co. While there he joined the Gonzales Rangers and the Old 18. When at the Alamo, he was selected by Col. Travis to carry out his famous letter to Gonzales. In response, Martin and 32 men returned to the Alamo. All perished.

It should be noted that a cenotaph was erected and may still be seen, at the North Burial Ground, in Providence, to Martin and the defenders of the Alamo.

Albert Martin’s grave marker in Rhode Island.

Miles de Forest Andross, Vermont

He was born in 1809, in Vermont. He married Elizabeth Peabody in 1822 and had two children. Later he made his way to Texas and died with the other defenders of the Alamo. His name appears on the Alamo cenotaph in San Antonio, Texas.

Robert Cochran, New Hampshire

He was born in Pembroke, N.H., in 1810. He went to New Orleans and then on to Texas. At the Alamo, he was assigned to Captain William Carey’s artillery company and died among the defenders of the Alamo on March 6. Forty years after his death a tiny county in Texas — Cochran County, pop. 3,127 in 2010 — was named for him.

John Flanders, Massachusetts or New Hampshire

He was born in either Salisbury, Mass., or Newton, N.H., in 1810. Flanders was working for his father when they argued over a mortgage. John Flanders wanted to foreclose on a widow, and his father wouldn’t let him.

John Flanders, too, went to New Orleans and then on to Texas. He joined the Gonzales Rangers and was one of the immortal 32 who sneaked into the Alamo to aid the defenders in response to the plea from Col. Travis.

William D. Howell, Massachusetts

He was a medical doctor and had a practice in New York. He too made his way to New Orleans and joined the New Orleans Greys. They became members of Capt. William Brazeby’s infantry company.

Amos Pollard, Massachusetts

He was born in Ashburnham, Mass., in 1803 and grew up in Surrey, N. H. He graduated from the medical school at the Vermont Academy in Castleton, Vt. Married in 1828 to Fanny Parker, they had one daughter. His wife passed away in 1831.

He served as the chief surgeon at the Alamo and set up a hospital within the compound. Historians say he probably died defending the hospital.

He, William Travis, Jim Bowie and David Crockett were the only defenders of the Alamo to have their portraits painted in their lifetimes.

Gordon C. Jennings, Connecticut

He was born in 1780 or 82 (that too is disputed) in Windham, Conn. But whatever the date, he was the oldest of the defenders of the Alamo. He moved from Connecticut to Missouri then on to Texas. He served as a member of Captain William R. Carey’s artillery company. Carey called his unit the ‘Invincibles,’

William Linn, District of Maine

He lived in Boston for a while and then moved to New Orleans. There he joined the New Orleans Greys, two companies of volunteers who supported Texas independence. The Greys later merged with Balzeby’s Infantry.

Leo Caisse, the author of this story, passed away in 2020. He had published the book, The Civilian Conservation Corps: A Guide to Their Works in Rhode Island. He also published a number of historical articles, including Ears On the World in America in World War II Magazine, October, 2017. Leo earned a B.A. and M.A. in American History from Providence College and lived in East Providence, R.I.

Image of William Martin’s grave marker by Swampyank – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22024069. This story last updated in 2022.

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The USS Kearsarge Launched at Portsmouth to Slay the Alabama

In 1862, the Confederate Naval vessel CSS Alabama was the scourge of the seas. Just over a year into the Civil War the Confederacy had bought the ship in England. And the Union Navy had dispatched its own warship, the USS Kearsarge, to stop it.

Built in secrecy to avoid falling afoul of the British government’s official stance of neutrality, the Alabama was launched without cannon. Because the British couldn’t sell her as an armed vessel, the Confederacy to arm her. As soon as the ship entered international waters, the Confederate Navy outfitted her with eight cannon. Then it set her loose on a mission to capture as many merchant ships headed for America’s northern states as possible.

The Alabama may have exceeded the Confederates’ wildest expectations. Under the command of Capt. Raphael Semmes, she burned 65 ships, though never harmed their crew or passengers.

Under both power and sail, the ship could make 13 knots. Its captain and crew quickly made their impact on the war. Within a month of her commissioning, Alabama was cruising the shipping lanes east of the Azores, capturing and burning every American merchant vessel she encountered. Commissioned in July of 1862, she had destroyed 21 ships before the end of the year.

The Union Navy had taken notice of the Alabama. She had easily sunk a Union sidewheeler the USS Hatteras in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

The Battle of Kearsarge vs. Alabama by Edouard Manet, Philadelphia Museum of Art

The USS Kearsarge Receives her Orders

The Navy had constructed the USS Kearsarge at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in 1861 and sent her to sea in search of Confederate raiders.

New Hampshire newspaper publisher Henry McFarland claimed he had suggested naming the vessel for New Hampshire’s Mount Kearsarge to his friend, an assistant secretary of the Navy who summered in the Granite State. The assistant secretary would later say his own wife suggested the name.

USS Kearsarge

Either way, the USS Kearsage had been launched in 1862 and soon it was given a new mission: Capture or sink the Alabama. Capt. John Winslow, a Mayflower descendant, and a crew of sailors, many from New England, tackled their mission with gusto. From November 1862 to March 1863 the Kearsarge underwent some special modifications at ports in Spain.

The Kearsarge carried seven guns and under power and sail she could manage 11 knots. Though she might not seem quite a match for the Alabama, the Union Navy had taken notice of the awesome power of the Alabama. Steps were taken to strengthen Kearsarge. Along her sides, strategically placed to protect her engines, the Spanish shipyard installed three layers of chain armoring. And to disguise the battle armor, they constructed false wooden sides that sat atop the armor, painted black to match the hull.

The Kearsarge Hunts Alabama

For months, the Kearsarge scoured the Atlantic in search of the Alabama. But the elusive Alabama sailed the waters of South America and across to Africa, leaving a trail of devastation in her wake. By June of 1863, when the Alabama pulled into the French port of Cherbourg for much needed refitting, she had captured and destroyed 65 ships. She had boarded more than 450 ships and taken 2,000 prisoners over a period of 560 days.

When the officers of the Kearsarge learned the Alabama was in Cherbourg, they made their way to the port at best speed, arriving just three days after the Alabama. At the mouth of the port, the Kearsarge’s pursuit stopped abruptly. France was neutral in the war, and an attack on a ship in port would have been an unprovoked act of war.

CSS Alabama

The Kearsarge requested support from other Union naval vessels in blockading the Alabama in port. The commander of the Alabama made a snap decision. He would not be hemmed into the port while the Union Navy gathered strength. He quickly outfitted the Alabama to go to sea with the intention of engaging the Kearsarge.

Kearsarge at the Battle of Cherbourg

On June 19, the Alabama left port. The Kearsarge raced ahead of it to reach international waters to avoid a naval battle in French waters. Safely out to sea, the two vessels began to circle, each trying to gain an advantage.

From a range of 1,000 feet, the Alabama fired first. The Kearsarge waited until the ships got closer. On shore, spectators watched as the two ships fired hundreds of cannon shots at each other. The Alabama fired more than 370 shots at the Kearsarge, but the Kearsarge’s makeshift armor held. Though her hull bent under the barrage, it did not break.

The gun that sunk the Alabama

The Kearsarge fired far fewer shots, but her shots were accurate. When the smoke began to clear, the Alabama was sinking. The Kearsarge had blasted holes through the ship below the waterline, dooming the mighty Alabama.

The Alabama surrendered. Capt. Semmes dumped his sword into the ocean rather than face the indignity of surrendering it — an act considered dishonorable by some. One man was killed on the Kearsarge and two were injured. On the Confederate side, 19 men died. Some 70 men surrendered to the Kearsarge. Semmes managed to flee aboard on a passing British vessel and escape to England with about 40 of his men.

The crew of the Kearsarge were hailed as heroes back in New York. For their actions in the Battle of Cherbourg, 17 sailors received the medal of valor. The ship, meanwhile, would continue in service in various capacities up until 1894.

The Kearsarge commander, John Winslow, was promoted to commodore and then rear admiral, commanding the Pacific Squadron until his retirement in 1872. He died in Boston shortly thereafter.

Aftermath and Repercussions

The Alabama’s captain, Raphael Semmes, went on to teach Moral Philosophy at the Louisiana State Seminary, later Louisiana State University. He died in 1877 from complications of food poisoning after earing contaminated shrimp. The city of Semmes, Ala., was named after him.

Cartoon showing the US bullying Britain into paying the Alabama Claim

Britain had angered the United States by letting one of its shipyards build the Alabama. That led to a long legal challenge initially led led by American Minister Charles Francis Adams, the son and grandson of presidents. Known as the Alabama Claims, the U.S. demanded payment of damages for the destruction wrought by the Alabama and several other British-built Confederate raiders. In 1872, Britain settled with a payment of $15.5 million.

In 1984, a French Navy mine hunter discovered the wreck of the Alabama off Cherbourg. The archaeological investigation recovered several cannon. In 2002, a diving expedition recovered the ship’s bell along with cannon, tableware and ornamental commodes.

In Stamford, Conn., a cannon from the USS Kearsarge stood in West Park from 1901 until 1942. It was then hauled away as scrap during World War II.

Thanks to: Kearsarge Mountain and the Corvette Named for It by Henry MacFarland.

Images: The gun that sank the Alabama By Internet Archive Book Images – https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/14576197040/Source book page: https://archive.org/stream/photographichist06mill/photographichist06mill#page/n308/mode/1up, No restrictions, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43879541. Battle of Kearsarge and Alabama By Édouard Manet – 1. From en.wiki2. The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1757414. Painting of Alabama By Rear Admiral J. W. Schmidt [1] – From the US Navy's Naval Historical Center. Originally from en.wikipedia; description page is (was) here;uploaded onto en.wiki 03:11, 14 November 2004 by McMullen 740×571 (59,800 bytes; Painting of CSS Alabama), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1338854,

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The 10th Vermont Retreat: Charlie George Saves His Little Brother Along the Way

Charles and Herbert George were brothers from Vermont, two of four who enlisted in the 10th Vermont Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. All had musical talent and joined the regimental band.

A Civil War regimental band

The George boys grew up in Newbury, Vt., in a large farming family, the sons of James George and Maria Nourse George. They had three sisters. Their father, who drank and gambled, wasn’t much of a provider. The boys all left home at a young age, two to farm, two to work as telegraph operators.

Then war broke out, and the brothers — Charles, Jere, Osman and Herbert — joined at various times. A description of the Union Army’s musicians underscores their role in the war effort:

The town also had suffered fearful ravages from war, and now a Union army was marching through its streets, every band and every drum corps playing the stirring but to southern ears hateful air, “John Brown’s body lies mouldering in the grave…” the bands always struck up this air, as if to taunt the inhabitants with the memory of their victim.

The 10th Vermont

The brothers participated in the Battle of Monocacy near Fredericksburg, Md., on July 9, 1864. Confederate Lt. Gen. Jubal Early had led his forces on a rampage from the Shenandoah Valley into Maryland. He wanted to divert Union forces from Gen. Robert E. Lee, under siege in Petersburg.

The Confederates did defeat the Union forces under Gen. Lew Wallace, forcing a retreat. The 10^th Vermont fought valiantly under Col. William Wirt Henry, who was wounded in the battle

Afterward, Charles wrote to his wife about the battle – some of the hardest fighting and marching of the war. They marched through dust to Fredericksburg and arose early on Saturday, July 9, he wrote. They then formed the line of battle at 8 a.m., drew rations and started ‘fighting like tigers.’

During the battle they were peppered with shells and bullets as they tried to help the wounded. The rebels overpowered the Union forces, who then took flight. They marched all night and until 4 p.m. the next day, wrote Charles, covering 40 miles on their way to rejoin their division.

Charles and Herbert

During the retreat, Charles stuck with Herbert who wasn’t well, carrying his things and leading him by the hand. Herbert wouldn’t have made it otherwise. They slept for four hours and then prepared to resume the march. Herbert threw away his knapsack and everything but his rubber blanket. They made coffee with cold water strained through a towel and hardtack before starting out again. Herbert soon gave out. He staggered and fell. Charles found a ride for him.

They reached Relay House in Maryland, from where they wrote home.

On July 14, 1864, Herbert wrote:

Dear folks at home

Just a word–I am all tired out & cant seem to get rested any although we have been here doing nothing for 3 days. We went up to Frederick & fought the rebels — got whipped & had to retreat 40 miles in a hurry. Such a hard march I never had. I’ll tell you all about it when I feel like it. I came near falling out & being taken prisoner. My first Bass player was taken prisoner & the other one is sick. Two others sick & I’m about sick so the Band is played out for a day or two. Our regt is pretty small now. Only about 200 muskets and guess it will fall short of that. We are now ordered to move somewhere but can’t tell anything about were.

Write often
in haste,
J. Herbert

With thanks to Bully for the Band: The Civil War Letters and Diary of Four Brothers in the 10^th Vermont Infantry Band, edited by James G. Davis. This story was updated in 2022.

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Henry Monroe, African-American Drummer Boy, Faces Enemy Fire On the Civil War Battlefield

Henry Monroe was just 13 years old when he directed maneuvers for the 54^th Massachusetts Voluntary Infantry Regiment during the ill-fated attack on Fort Wagner on July 18, 1863. Standing at his commanding officer’s side, Henry beat out instructions on his drum: Advance. Halt. Retreat. Cease fire. The beat of the drum was one of the few things that could be heard above the noise of battle.

Henry Augustus Monroe

The 54^th Massachusetts’ African-American soldiers led the bloody assault on the Confederate fort. Many were wounded or killed, including their commander, Col. Robert Gould Shaw. The conduct of the 54^th Massachusetts troops during the Battle of Fort Wagner put to rest any questions about their courage. Afterward the Union stepped up recruitment of African-American soldiers. (The battle also inspired the movie Glory.)

Later in life, as a Methodist minister, Henry Augustus Monroe described the attack. Fort Wagner, he wrote, was a “slumbering volcano” that “awoke to action and poured forth sheets of flame from ten thousand rebel fires, and earth and heaven shook with the roar of a hundred pieces of artillery.”

Many of the drummer boys in the Civil War were either orphans or followed their fathers into the military. They also carried water, took care of horses, gathered wood, cooked, carried the wounded off battlefields and buried the dead. In battle, they were strategic targets for marksmen, for silencing the drum cut off communication to the troops.

Henry Monroe

Henry Monroe was from New Bedford, Mass., which contributed a number of soldiers to the 54^th Regiment. He attended public schools in Boston and New Bedford, graduating at the head of his class in which he was the only African-American.

He was mustered out of the army at the end of the war, and he went on to teach in the Freedman’s Bureau. President Ulysses S. Grant appointed him an inspector of customs at the Port of Baltimore. He published a newspaper called the Standard Bearer and got involved with the Methodist Episcopal church.

From 1887 to 1892 he served as pastor of St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Harlem, where he published his recollections of the Civil War in the weekly church bulletin.

Battle of Boykin’s Mill

Henry Monroe wrote a poem about another battle fought by the 54^th Massachusetts, the Battle of Boykin’s Mill. Tragically, the battle caused a pointless loss of life, as the war had ended and President Lincoln assassinated. But the news took a long time to reach the interior of South Carolina.

Monroe described how a galling fire mowed down the men as they crossed a narrow bridge. He how they stepped over the bodies of their fallen comrades and how the enemy finally responded:

Boykin’s Mill, a few miles from Camden, S.C., was the scene of one of the bloodiest skirmishes that the 54th Regt. ever participated in. We had literally fought every step of the way from Georgetown to Camden, and the enemy made a last desperate stand at this place. No better position could be found for a defense, as the only approach to it, was by a narrow embankment about 200 yards long, where only one could walk at a time. The planks of the bridge over the mill-race were torn up, compelling the troops to cross on the timbers and cross-ties, under a galling fire which swept the bridge and embankment, rendering it a fearful ‘way of death.’

Monroe then described the heroism of the men who crossed the bridge.

The heroes of Wagner and Olustee did not shrink from the trial, but actually charged in single file. The first to step upon the fatal path, went down like grass before the scythe, but over their prostrate bodies came their comrades, until the enemy, panic-stricken by such determined daring, abandoned their position and fled.

Detail from Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ plaster cast for the 54th Regiment Memorial, dedicated on Boston Common in 1897.

Henry Monroe, Poet

The last two stanzas of Henry Monroe’s poem read:

Facing the scathing fire
Without a halt or break;
Save when with moan or shriek,
In the blood-mingled creek
The wounded fell.

What could resist that charge?
Above the battle’s roar.
There swells a deafening cheer
Telling to far and near,
The Mill is won!

You can see 43 photographs of the members of the 54^th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment here, courtesy of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

This story was updated in 2022.

Image: 54th Massachusetts Regiment Memorial By Rhododendrites – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=84157368.

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