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The Phelps Sacrifice: A Family’s Civil War

The Phelps Sacrifice is the second part of a two-part series about one family’s tragic experience of the Civil War. Read Part I here.

Having already lost their father to the ravages of the Civil War, Leroy and Levant Phelps enlisted in the Union Army on Dec. 9, 1863, for three years. The Phelps sacrifice was far from over.

Garrison Duty in Washington

The Phelps brothers were assigned to the 1st Massachusetts Volunteer Heavy Artillery Regiment. This unit had a complex history. Originally organized on July 5, 1861, as the 14th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, it was reconstituted as an artillery regiment on Jan. 1, 1862. The regiment was sent to Washington, D.C., to help man the forts protecting the capital through 1862 and the first half of 1863. In June 1863, Company I was sent to the Shenandoah Valley and participated in the Second Battle of Winchester and the retreat to Harper’s Ferry. with Companie B, C, H, and I assigned for the rest of the year to the Department of West Virginia. The bulk of the regiment was assigned to the Department of West Virginia.

Defense of Washington, D.C. during the Civil War

By December, most of the regiment was back manning the forts around Washington, D.C., Here Leroy and Levant Phelps would have joined as replacements. With the one exception of Company I, the regiment had seen no major action, nor had it sustained any significant losses beyond illness and injury. At least their mother could take some solace in the fact that Leroy and Levant would not be directly involved in combat, the threat of Confederate forces attacking Washington being greatly diminished. Alas, it was a false hope.

Conversion to Infantry

By 1864, the need to keep large artillery regiments around Washington had diminished. But at the same time, the need for additional infantry had risen significantly. The army now began to look at the manpower of the heavy artillery units that had not been depleted by combat. And thus, on May 15, 1864, the regiment, while maintaining its artillery designation, was converted to infantry. It then joined the Army of the Potomac at Belle Plain, Va. Privates Leroy and Levant Phelps were now infantryman. While they may have been reluctant to tell their mother, they were probably initially glad to leave the dull, uneventful daily grind of manning the Washington fortifications. As the Regimental history noted:

At last, after long months of garrison duty, days of waiting and impatience to the majority who wanted action, a share in the fighting and glory of achievement; of disappointment to those who wanted to be in the field with other regiments that had won the laurels of war; of all who wanted to hasten the day of victory, and of peace that was consummately desired; at last came the orders which brought the regiment into the midst of the bloodiest conflicts of the war.

Baptism of Fire at Spotsylvania

In 1864, monumental battles took place in Virginia. Leroy and Levant would see their first real combat at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House on May 19-21, 1864, just three days after the regiment’s conversion to infantry. It would have been a rude awakening for the regiment since they had only rudimentary training in ground combat. On the first day of the battle, at Harris Farm/Fredericksburg Road, the regiment found itself in the thick of the fighting.

Privates Leroy and Levant Phelps were in Company D. The regimental history has an entry written by a member of the company.

The right company, F, and our company, D, were detached as skirmishers and filed to the right of the line. The regiment passed on and the two companies under Maj. Holt started off to the right. Co. F left us to relieve the picket of the 4th N. Y. in our front, while our company marched on to the right. Here we halted near the picket reserve of the 4th N. Y. and waited for orders.

Soon after we halted, the pickets commenced exchanging shots and soon the firing became quite hot, but the reserve of the 4th N. Y. picket was ordered in to support this line.

The firing began to increase in intensity; the bullets hummed over our heads and we began to think there was a skirmish in earnest. Just then the first battalion under Rolfe came up in double quick, formed in line of battle to the right of us.

‘Fix bayonets, forward’

Maj. Rolfe said to his command: “Men, we want to see if there are Rebels in those woods; if there are we must drive them out. Battalion, fix bayonets, forward, guide centre, march.” And down they went. They reached the woods, joining the 4th N. Y. The fight began soon.

Co. D was ordered to the right or near the centre, where we could see the whole fight. Maj. Rolfe was riding up and down his line urging his men on. I thought he was rash, for he was in uniform and a conspicuous target. Our company was sent to cover behind a house close by. Some of our men were wounded, but our ambulance corps was not on hand. DeMeritt of our company, severely wounded in both legs, I placed in a 2d N. Y. ambulance. After a time the Rebels were too strong and our company had to fall back.

Our second battalion came up and we rallied in the woods and drove the Rebels from the house we had just left, but they came back and again we reformed in the woods. Here the battery on the hill in our rear opened on the Rebs and two of their shots struck among our men, killing one of Co. G and taking a leg off one in D. The 2d N. Y. came up and fired a volley into us instead of the enemy.

We gained the house again and, protected by that and a rail fence, held the position until reinforcements came, when we helped drive the Rebels down the hill.

The 2d N. Y. were entirely disorganized. They had the line in advance of ours in the evening and, while our troops were putting in their volleys the 2d N. Y. broke and fell back on us.

The 1st Massachusetts Heavy Artillery Regiment bury dead Confederates at the Alsop Farm May 19, 1864.

The Cost of Harris Farm

Company D lost four killed and 18 wounded.

As the 1st Massachusetts Heavy Artillery monument at the Harris Farm states:

In commemoration of the deeds of the First Regiment Heavy Artillery Massachusetts Volunteers (Armed as Infantry) three hundred and ninety eight of whose members fell within an hour around this spot during an action fought May 19 1864 between a division of the Union Army commanded by General Tyler and a corps of the Confederate forces under General Ewell.

Considering their lack of training as infantry and that they were seriously outnumbered, the regiment and the Phelps brothers acquitted themselves well. They were lucky to survive unscathed. The remaining men had to learn their trade on the fly since, only two days later on May 23rd, they were involved in the fighting at the North Anna River and at Totopotomoy. In both instances, they did not engage heavily with the enemy.

A Respite During the Battle of Cold Harbor

The regiment was then involved in the Battle of Cold Harbor (June 1-12, 1864). Though a bloodbath for the Union Army, fortunately for the regiment it did not suffer as heavily as others. The regimental history has an interesting entry regarding a quiet phase of the battle when even the Confederates appear exhausted.

June 7, Cutler writes: This is the first day for some time that we have not been under fire. We have had some good resting spells lately and feel greatly refreshed after the hard service we saw after starting from the forts.

The Rebel pickets opposite our lines are quite sociable and quiet; not a shot has been fired by either side. The firing last night was on the right of us. They are North Carolina troops. Our pickets trade coffee and sugar with them for tobacco. They have no coffee or sugar, but plenty of other food. One man gave himself over to our forces. He says he has plenty to eat, but his family is suffering. They all think the war will not last much longer, but say that Grant will have a hard time taking Richmond…

A Truce, and the Siege of Petersburg

On the seventh a truce was arranged from 6 to 8 p.m., to get off the wounded and bury the dead. Some of the wounded had lain exposed to sun and rain on the battle fields since the third, and their sufferings were terrible. The stench from dead bodies was unbearable. The terrible scene seemed to have an effect on both armies and, though the firing of musketry was heard later, many a shot went high in the air. Cutler says he did not hear a picket shot on the eighth. In the afternoon he enjoyed corn bread secured from the Rebs and he wanted more of it. In the evening the batteries exchanged shots…

Unburied dead on the battlefield

Only four days after Cold Harbor, on June 16, 1864, the regiment joined the Siege of Petersburg. They would fight in the siege lines and in the various battles in the area until Petersburg fell on April 2, 1865. For the remainder of 1864, Pvts. Leroy and Levant Phelps participated in the First Assault on Petersburg. Then they fought on the Jerusalem Plank Road, Deep Bottom, Strawberry Plains, Peeble’s Farm, Boydton Plank Road/Hatcher’s Run and the Expedition to Weldon Railroad.

Hatcher’s Run

The Final Campaign

Through early March 1865, the 1st Massachusetts Heavy Artillery was involved in only one significant action at Dabney’s Mills/Hatcher’s Run (Feb. 3-7, 1865) other than service in the siege lines. Then on March 29, 1865, Grant and the Army of the Potomac began their final campaign, the Appomattox Campaign.

On March 31, 1865, the regiment and the Phelps brothers found themselves in a familiar area near Boydton Plank Road. It was a minor affair given their previous combat, but it would be a lasting memory for the Phelps’ family. The regimental history describes the action:

March 31, 1865. After being moved to the left in the morning, our brigade and the 5th Mich, were sent forward at 11 a. m. and three hours later advanced upon a Rebel fort under a terrible fire, that somehow proved very ineffective. We came to an impassable morass just in front of the fort and lay down there, maintaining a heavy fire, and exposed not only to the fire from the enemy’s infantry in the works but to canister from their battery. Staff officers in the rear of our lines sat on their horses, coolly surveying the enemy’s works through field glasses, under fire. After half an hour, retreat was sounded and we retired in good order. The regiment lost one man, Peleg Swift, Co. A, aged 45, the oldest man in the regiment killed, and had ten wounded. The left of the brigade rested on the Boydton Plank Road and the battle was not far from that other engagement of Oct. 27, 1864.

Slashing and Retreating

Among Gardner’s papers were found abstracts from the diary of Sergeant Bradley, not printed in the memorial book. He fails to mention that Captain Littlefield complimented him on the field for rallying men during the charge of March 31. But his story is perhaps the best of those preserved:

March 31, 1865. The sun came out about ten; it was most welcome. At eleven orders received to be ready to move in light marching order. The 1st Mass. and 5th Mich, passed over the work through the slashing into the heavy timber, past the picket lines. In about half an hour we were flanked on both sides, moved to the right a short distance, went forward to some slashing, ordered to retreat to the works, which we did; one killed and two wounded.

Another Phelps Sacrifice

All in all, the fighting on March 31, 1865, was a minor affair, except that one of those wounded that day was Pvt. Leroy Phelps. He must have suffered a serious wound. While it is not recorded, his brother Levant would have been nearby when Leroy was wounded since they were in the same company. Certainly, if he had not witnessed the actual event, he would have spent time with his brother before he was sent for further medical care.

The war did not stop for the regiment or Pvt. Levant Phelps. Both went on to fight in the final battles in Virginia. Petersburg fell on April 2, 1865. Then the final major battle with Lee’s army took place at Sailor’s Creek on April 6, 1865. There was one more small affair at High Bridge/Farmville on April 7, 1865. Then Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Pvt. Levant Phelps and the 1st Massachusetts Heavy Artillery attended the event. It was not the end of the war, but it was the end of fighting in Virginia.

Pvt. Leroy Phelps was quickly evacuated to the Union’s Satterlee Hospital in Philadelphia, Pa., where he died on April 11, 1865, two days after Lee’s surrender. Whether he knew of Lee’s surrender is unknown, but the news would have reached all of the North at the time. His mother’s undoubted joy at the end of the fighting in Virginia would soon be dashed when word reached her of her son’s death. His brother Levant may not have heard of the death for quite some time. Pvt. Leroy Phelps was interned in the military plot at Mount Moriah Cemetery in Philadelphia.

Homecoming and a Second Phelps Sacrifice

After Lee’s surrender, the 1st Massachusetts Heavy Artillery stayed in Virginia before marching to Washington, D.C. While there it manned several fortifications. It took part in the Grand Review on June 15, 1865. Eventually, the regiment mustered out in Washington on Aug. 16, 1865. Sent north to Boston, the regiment and Pvt. Levant Phelps were discharged at Gallop’s Island, Boston Harbor, on Aug. 25, 1865.

Levant Phelps attended the Grand Review of the Union Army. He may or may not have known of the latest Phelps sacrifice.

Levant Phelps’ homecoming must have been bittersweet. His widowed mother would still have been mourning his brother Leroy. But at the same time, Levant’s return must have overjoyed her. At least now she had a semblance of normal family life with her two surviving sons and daughter.

On June 3, 1867, Levant Phelps married Ella Lovinia Prince in Goshen, Mass. Finally, an event happened to bring some joy to the Phelps’ household. and his mother could now perhaps look forward to a grandchild.

But tragedy would once again strike the family. On 28 Nov 1869, Levant Phelps died of heart disease. He was only 25 years old. There is nothing to indicate a congenital condition, and it is entirely possible that the condition came about because of his hard war service. In any event, there were no children from the marriage. His mother Erryphila must have been a strong woman to survive – within 8 years she had lost a husband and two sons.

A Mother’s Enduring Scars

Erryphila Wheeler Phelps never remarried. She died on April 18, 1899, at Williamsburg, Hampshire County, Massachusetts. She apparently lived at the time with her daughter and her family. Her son Laselle and her daughter Ella Jane survived her. Both had children. Unfortunately, she had to survive one more tragedy when Laselle’s infant son died in 1896.

In one way or another, every family in the United States was left with the scars of war. The Phelps family was an ordinary family living, and dying, in extraordinary times. As such, they differed little from many of the families on both sides at the time.

Read more about the Phelps sacrifice here.

Abner Phelps was the author’s 2nd Cousin, 4 times removed, and his sons Leroy and Levant Phelps were his 3rd Cousins, 3 times removed.

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Now available in paperback and as an ebook from the New England Historical Society! A collection of stories about the French people who came to America. Click here to order your copy today!

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The Phelps of Massachusetts: An Ordinary Family’s Civil War Odyssey

This is the first part of a two-part series about the Phelps family sacrifice during the Civil War.

When the Civil War started in April 1861, Abner and Erryphila Phelps were an average New England farm family, living in Goshen, Hampshire County, Massachusetts. With three sons and a daughter, there was nothing to set them apart from any other local family. Absent the Civil War, the Phelps’ family life would have led a normal, routine, unremarkable and uneventful life, just your average family with not even a brief historical mention beyond the boundaries of their local town.

Abner Phelps was born in July 1817 in Goshen, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, the son of Nathaniel Phelps (1791-1857) and Sally Pelletreau Mayhew (1796-1871). Through his mother’s Mayhew line, his New England roots ran deep. His many times great-grandfather Gov. Thomas Mayhew, the Elder (1593-1682), founded of the first European settlements on Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket and the Islands.

In about 1844, Abner married Erryphila Wheeler (1817-1899). The marriage produced three sons — Leroy Phelps (1846-1865), Levant Phelps (1844-1869), Laselle Phelps (1854-1912) and one daughter, Ella Jane Phelps (1858-1915).

When the Civil War started, both sides assumed the fighting would be over in a matter of months.

Northerners were so confident of an easy victory — and so unaware of the horrors of war — that they traveled to an early battle, Bull Run, to watch and enjoy a picnic.

Abner Phelps Joins Up

At the time, Abner Phelps had no reason to join up. Indeed, he was 45 years old and well beyond the normal recruit age for a soldier. There would have been no expectation for him to enlist, and his two oldest sons were just turning 16 and 17 so they were too young. Had the predictions of early victory for one side or the other held true, the rest of the Phelps’ family story would have passed to uneventful oblivion. However, the rose-colored victory glasses soon turned black. An early resolution faded into the smoke of battle.

In August 1862, the immediate need for fresh troops for the Union was critical. President Lincoln called for the raising of 300,000 troops to serve in various state regiments for a 9-month period. Numerous 9-month regiments were raised in Massachusetts. Among those was the 52^nd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment. On Sept. 15, 1862, Abner Phelps, then 43 years old, enlisted as a private. On Oct. 11, 1862, he mustered in to Company I, 52^nd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment at Camp Miller, Greenfield, Mass.

Just why Abner Phelps enlisted is unknown. Certainly, to have enlisted at an age 20 years older than most of the men he would serve with, especially in the infantry, denoted a high degree of patriotism beyond the norm. Of the 90 men in Company I when the unit was formed, Abner Phelps was the only one from Goshen.

Camp Miller

As the “History of the 52^nd Regiment” notes:

Of life at Camp Miller not much is to be said. The days were spent in company and battalion drill; and in the nights, if some of the farmers in the neighborhood lost their poultry and their green corn, it was no more than could be expected…

Camp Miller, November 10 – The day was rainy and unpleasant; but precisely at a quarter to three the regiment, number 930 men, formed a line with their knapsacks, haversacks, and canteens on, when the adjutant read the order for their departure for New York…

If “the boys” thought they were playing soldier, and were off for a prolonged picnic, they were disabused of that idea when they reached New York. The rain fell in torrents: no provision had been made for their coming. They marched, dirty and hungry, through the muddy streets to the Park, and toward morning are let into the City Hall to get what rest they can on the stone floor, at least they are out of the rain and the mud…

New York City Hall in 1860. Image courtesy Library of Congress.

Seaborne and Seasick

Conditions in New York gradually improved. But if the regiment and Abner Phelps thought that conditions had been unpleasant, it was just the start. The experiences of the regiment were probably typical of most units sent by sea. In the case of the 52^nd Massachusetts, virtually none of the men had even seen a major river, let alone an ocean.

Nov. 28, 1862, saw the regiment board the steamer Illinois.

We are in pretty close quarters, but are as comfortable as can be expected on board a vessel with 1,200 men.

They still had no idea that their destination was Louisiana. On Dec. 2, 1862, they set sail.

It was a novel experience to most of us. No land in sight, and we knew not when there would be. The sea became very rough, and multitudes were very sick. The fact is, most of us were dry-land sailors, though some had crossed the Connecticut River once or twice.

It was not a pleasant voyage.

Our quarters are crowded, food was poor, somewhat limited in quantity: the condensers were not large enough for such a multitude. So our tea and coffee were well flavored with salt water and grease…

Crowded, kept below deck most of the time, even in good weather the conditions would have been stifling. Conditions did not markedly improve, even when they reached the mouth of the Mississippi River, and death came to the regiment before it even hit land.

As the regimental history goes on to describe:

Daniel W. Lyman, Co. K, wrote to the Northampton Gazette: “On the morning of the third day a stiff breeze was blowing, which soon increased to a gale. The heaving of the ship brought out all the sea-sickness, and but few escaped. Such a scene as we presented on board I shall not attempt to describe. I never witnessed the like before, and I hope I never shall again. This Sabbath morning was a sad one to our regiment. Richmond, of Co. E, was stricken with typhoid fever, and died in less than a day after he was taken ill. The funeral services were held on the hurricane deck, and his remains consigned to a watery grave.”

Private Phelps at Port Hudson

The regiment reached Baton Rouge on Dec. 17, 1862, after sailing up the river past New Orleans. After 19 days on the boat, the regimental history reported, “…orders came for the 52^nd to land, which they did cheerfully…”, which must have been the understatement of all time! They then remained in and around the area for the next three months, with some companies occasionally detailed to other places guarding supply lines. Then on March 13-14, 1863, Private Phelps and the regiment participated in a joint Army-Navy operation against Port Hudson, La., when Adm. David G. Porter tried unsuccessfully to force a river passage. The regiment got within several hundred yards of the fort, but saw no action, returning to Baton Rouge thereafter.

Union soldiers dig a trench in anticipation of the siege of Port Huron.

It next participated in the Bayou Teche Campaign designed to remove a Confederate flanking threat for Gen. Nathaniel Banks’ upcoming assault on Port Hudson. The regiment was involved in some skirmishing, but saw no sustained fighting. It remained in the area for over a month, guarding various supply lines and reacting to suspected Confederate threats.

On May 27, 1863, the Union army made the first assault on Port Hudson, but the 52nd Massachusetts was still in Bayou Teche and did not reach the Port Hudson siege lines until May 30. On June 14, Private Phelps and the regiment took part in the second assault on Port Hudson, where the terrain and heavy Confederate fire stopped the regiment. They were then deployed as flankers and skirmishers. One can only marvel at the stamina and courage of Phelps, who at 43 years old, was probably suffering physically much more than the younger men around him.

The Battle

As the skirmish line advances, the reserves are ordered up. Capt. Bliss, of Co. G, an efficient, promising young officer, is carried off the field, mortally wounded. Lieut. Rice, of Co. B, an equally meritorious officer, is severely wounded. One soldier of the reserves is struck in the hand, and another in the leg; and our rank and file are killed and wounded along our long skirmish line, in uncertain numbers. We wonder how those brave lads, in that long, irregular line, can live at all in such a ‘leaden rain,’under such a deadly fire. The roar of cannon, the plunging, shrieking, and bursting of shells, and the discharge of small arms are continuous on both sides.

Soon we observe that the assaulting column is checked in its advance, apparently with heavy loss; but our gallant skirmishers, under the immediate direction of the lieutenant colonel and major, still press forward. They soon gain position within pistol range of the entire line of fortifications, covering a front of one-fourth to one-third of a mile; and, as the main column does not advance, they now halt, dig rifle-pits, roll up logs, utilize stumps, pile up brush, and otherwise protect themselves as best they can from further loss. And from this poorly sheltered, advanced position ‘the boys’ soon silenced the enemy’s artillery in their front. If a rebel sharpshooter shows his head above the ramparts now, he does so at his peril.

Attack on Port Huron

Aftermath

But it is now apparent that the grand assault has been repulsed. Artillery firing mainly ceases. Only sharp-shooters on both sides seem to be busily engaged; but they evidently have business enough on hand, particularly in our own neighborhood. About this time our most anxious, perambulating colonel is made aware of the fact that he in particular has become an object of considerable interest, — a sort of revolving, moving target for several Confederate gentlemen of that obnoxious persuasion; and, as there appears to be no further need of personal exposure on his part just now, he promptly seeks out a good-sized stump, on high, commanding ground, extemporizes it into regimental headquarters, and occupies them in person without formal ceremony.

The bullets come ‘thud, thud, thud,’ into the tough old stump, and continue to ‘zip’ and whistle about these new and novel yet strictly ‘military’ headquarters, until the sun is well down in the west. We cannot yet move to bring off our wounded or to bury our dead. The reserves are mostly under cover a short distance to the rear; and thus we remain on the battle-field until the following morning. As was necessary, we went into the fight in light marching order, and have unavoidably suffered much from want of our blankets during the damp, chilly night.

The Death of Abner Phelps

After retiring, they remained on picket duty for the next three weeks in an exposed position under daily fire until the Confederates surrendered on July 9. 1863. The regiment stayed at Port Hudson until July 23, but the soldiers were now nearing the end of their enlistment. The regiment was then sent by steamship up the Mississippi (and later by rail). The fall of Port Huron and Vicksburg opened the river, which made the 52nd Massachusetts the first Union regiment to travel up the Mississippi. It reached Greenfield, Mass., on Aug. 5, 1863. Pvt. Abner Phelps then mustered out with the regiment on Aug. 14, 1863. It must have been a joyful homecoming for his wife and children, a blessed relief after nine months of anxiety.

During the Civil War, camp life was always more deadly than actual combat. The 52^nd Massachusetts lost 11 men mortally wounded or killed in action, but 101 men died of disease. Typhoid, malaria, dysentery and diarrhea were major killers during the war. They resulted from overcrowding, poor sanitation, poor water supply and a general ignorance of the causes. On Sept. 1, 1863, 18 days after mustering out, Abner Phelps died at home in Goshen of diarrhea. The short period between his discharge and death strongly suggest that he was ill during his return from Louisiana. The cause of his death was directly related to his service. It would have been a devastating blow to his wife and children. They had just welcomed him home and thought he was at last safe from the terrors of the war.

Honoriing Their Father

By the time of their father’s death, two of his three sons, Leroy and Levant Phelps were 18 and 19 respectively. We can only imagine how the death of their father affected them, but on 9 Dec. 9, 1863, most probably to honor their father’s sacrifice and to the undoubted horror of their mother, they both enlisted as privates in Company D, 1^st Massachusetts Volunteer Heavy Artillery. Both signed up for 3 years.

To read Part II, click here.

Abner Phelps was the author’s 2^nd cousin, 4 times removed, and his sons Leroy and Levant Phelps were his 3^rd Cousins, 3 times removed.

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Now available in paperback and as an ebook from the New England Historical Society! A collection of stories about the French people who came to America. Click here to order your copy today!

Images: “Attack on Port Huron” colorized by ChatGPT.

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George Boutwell, Forgotten Civil Rights Pioneer

On a summer day in 1862, a government employee named George Boutwell took the podium in front of the U.S. Capitol before 10,000 people. He was one of 10 speakers that day in the Great War Meeting, a rally aimed at boosting Northern morale.

The Union was losing the war. The rebels had once again forced the army to retreat. The wounded and sick filled Washington’s makeshift hospitals. Fathers, brothers, wives came to the city to claim the bodies of their dead. Meanwhile, newspapers reported the Lincoln administration in disarray, with quarreling and finger pointing among generals and the cabinet.

George Boutwell

In his speech that day, Boutwell gave the Union a reason–the reason–for fighting. It was something President Lincoln couldn’t say, at least yet: The war was about ending slavery.

“We shall never crush the rebellion until we crush slavery,” Boutwell said. “Treason is the fruit of slavery.”

Boutwell, a staunch abolitionist, had just assumed the obscure job of U.S. revenue commissioner. If the rally organizers had intended his speech to test public support for emancipation, they got what they wanted.

Pro-administration newspapers praised Boutwell’s call to end slavery. The crowd cheered and cried its support. “It was a stirring and able off-hand effort,” reported the Boston Evening Transcript.

In that speech, George Boutwell redefined the Civil War, according to Jeffrey Boutwell in his new book, “Boutwell: Radical Republican and Champion of Democracy.”

George Boutwell

Boutwell’s biography brings to light an overlooked player on the historical stage. During his 65 years in public office, George Boutwell shaped civil rights legislation, managed the currency at a crucial time in the U.S. economy and led the fight against annexation of the Philippines. He was a friend and foe to presidents: a strong ally of Lincoln and Grant, the arch-enemy of Andrew Johnson and an implacable critic of McKinley and Roosevelt.

But historians had pretty much forgotten him until now. You could argue he was on the wrong side of history. Or just ahead of his time.

Jeffrey Boutwell

Jeffery Boutwell shares a common ancestor with George: the indentured servant James Boutwell, who came to Massachusetts in 1632. Jeffrey grew up vaguely aware of his relative. He’d served as Massachusetts’ youngest governor in the 19^th century and Ulysses S. Grant’s Treasury Secretary.

But it wasn’t until he was in his 30s and 40s that Jeffrey Boutwell began to pay attention to George. In retirement, he decided to write an essay, 60 pages or so, about him. Finally, he realized George Boutwell’s significance and his courage. So, he decided to write a book.

George Boutwell, Civil Rights Leader

Born in Brookline, Mass., in 1818, George Boutwell grew up on his family farm in Lunenburg, 50 miles to the north and west of his birthplace. At 17 he left school and moved to Groton, Mass., to work in a store. The town would profoundly influence his views on race and justice.

Groton, Mass., in the 1880s

Margaret Fuller, who stood at the epicenter of the Transcendentalist movement, lived in Groton. The town was a hotbed of abolitionism, and Boutwell heard Frederick Douglass speak there.

He began to study law and in 1841 won election to the Massachusetts General Court. Boutwell established his anti-slavery credentials early on. He supported the right of petition, in concert with John Quincy Adams, and he voted to end the ban on interracial marriage.

At 33, he won the election for Massachusetts governor as a Democrat. He served two one-year terms. But he got disgusted with the Democratic Party’s embrace of slavery and left to organize the Republican Party in Massachusetts.

Young Boutwell

After he decided against running for a third term, he studied law, immersed himself in local politics and went to a Chicago as a delegate to the Republican national convention. In 1862, President Lincoln gave him an enormous challenge when he named him the first commissioner of Internal Revenue.

Congress had passed new taxes to pay for the war effort, but Boutwell had only three employees to collect the revenue. In addtion to hiring and training 3,000 employees, he had to wipe out corruption and eliminate war profiteering.

Though a desk job, it had as much if not more impact on the Civil War than battlefield victories. The Union could withstand military defeats better than the devaluation of its currency.

Hugh McCulloch, comptroller of the currency in 1863, wrote that more hard and difficult work was done in one year in the Bureau of Internal Revenue than was done in the whole Treasury Department from the establishment of the government.

Andrew Johnson’s Arch-Enemy

Boutwell liked lawmaking better than administering revenue collectors, and he won election to Congress in 1863. When the war ended, he championed citizenship and voting rights for Black people. Boutwell went so far as to advocate school integration, which critics considered radical in the extreme.

Boutwell cowrote the 14^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which extends citizenship, due process and equal protection under the law to Black Americans. He also cowrote the 15^th Amendment, which grants voting rights to Black men. And he did his best to prevent Andrew Johnson from dismantling the Northern victory over slavery.

Andrew Johnson

Upon his inauguration as Lincoln’s vice president, Andrew Johnson had delivered a long, drunken and incoherent speech. It foretold the tenor of his presidency. After Lincoln’s assassination, Johnson, a racist southerner, began to restore white supremacy in the South. He ignored Congress and turned a blind eye to the murder and disenfranchisement of Black southerners.

Boutwell led the drive to impeach Johnson for executive overreach. He not only failed, but he went down in history as a partisan radical.

Johnson impeachment managers
Seated L-R: Benjamin Butler, Thaddeus Stevens, Thomas Williams, John Bingham;
Standing L-R: James F. Wilson, Boutwell, John A. Logan

Treasury Secretary

When Ulysses S. Grant succeeded Johnson, he appointed George Boutwell as Treasury Secretary. Boutwell’s careful management of the currency contributed to the tremendous expansion of the U.S. economy after the Civil War.

The government had floated greenbacks to pay for the war. Boutwell slowly bought them back with gold. By taking paper money out of circulation, he restored U.S. credit with overseas trading partners and held down inflation.

A greenback

As Treasury Secretary, Boutwell had charge of the Secret Service. The agency’s mission included infiltrating and disrupting the Ku Klux Klan, then terrorizing Black people in the South. As a friend and ally of President Grant, Boutwell could do even more to try to protect Blacks. He did it in a coach ride from the Treasury Department to the Capitol.

Grant’s presidency faced headwinds, not the least of which was Reconstruction fatigue. Grant tired of accusations that he acted like a military dictator in the South. When a bill came up before Congress to strengthen enforcement of the 14^th amendment – known as the KKK Act, Grant wavered in his support of it.

Perhaps the president wanted his spine stiffened. Grant invited Boutwell to ride over with him to the Capitol. Inside the building, Grant wrote a message to Congress, asking for passage of the bill. It did, and, in the short term, helped disrupt and disband the Klan.

Mississippi Ku Klux Klan

Back in Congress

In 1875, Democrats in Mississippi wrested control of state government through violent attacks on Black voters and Union supporters.

Boutwell had returned to lawmaking, having won election to the Senate in 1873. He chaired a special committee to investigate the violence, intimidation and ballot stuffing used to suppress the Black vote. In a 2,000-page report, the committee described how Democrats had systematically disenfranchised Black Mississippians, reducing them to serfdom.

George Boutwell, anti-imperialist

Boutwell turned to his law practice after he lost the 1877 race for re-election to the Senate. He served for a time as a legal representative for the Kingdom of Hawaii, opposing its acquisition by the United States.

In retirement, he did not view the conflict with Spain as a “splendid little war” but as imperialistic overreach. He grew disillusioned with the Republican Party under President William McKinley and his attempt to annex the Philippines.

Mark Twain’s proposal for a U.S.-controlled Philippine flag

Boutwell joined industrialist Andrew Carnegie, Mark Twain and W.E.B. Dubois in opposing U.S. imperialism under Teddy Roosevelt. The conquest of brown people overseas appalled him as much as the enslavement of Black people in the southern United States. He founded and served as president of the Anti-Imperialism League.

Boutwell clung to his moral compass throughout his life. As Jeffrey Boutwell noted, he “helped reformulate the concepts of citizenship, voting and equality before the law as necessary pillars of representative democracy in a multiracial society, whether in America or its overseas possessions.”

Why Ignored?

So why do we know about people like Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens and not George Boutwell?

For one thing, explains Jeffrey Boutwell, his relative was a flinty Yankee who didn’t promote himself.

Secondly, he did not belong to Boston’s Brahmin class. People like Henry Adams and arch-imperialist Henry Cabot Lodge disdained him as a poorly educated farmer.

Finally, argues Jeffrey Boutwell, the South for over a century managed to rewrite the history of Reconstruction. Southern writers and historians spread the canard that Yankee carpetbaggers came to loot and plunder what was left of the South. As part of that story, they paint the impeachment of Andrew Johnson as an unjust persecution by radical republicans. Even John F. Kennedy, in his book “Profiles in Courage,” lauded Sen. Edmund Ross of Kansas who cast the deciding vote that saved Johnson’s presidency.

But over the past 20 years are so, historians have taken a new look at the Johnson presidency. Some have concluded he deserved impeachment because of his incredible executive overreach. And Ross was no profile in courage—he was actively soliciting bribes to vote for Johnson, wrote Jeffrey Boutwell.

George Boutwell was the courageous one, in the eyes of his relative and of historian Benjamin Quarles. Jeffrey Boutwell quotes Quarles in lauding George Boutwell for his indefatigable support for Black suffrage and education.

Quarles, a prominent Black historian, assessed George Boutwell in his 1933 master’s thesis, a time when the South’s spin on the Civil War prevailed. Wrote Quarles,

[F]ew Congressmen in the [1860s] had a greater interest in the welfare of the Negro than Boutwell…long before Radicalism had solidified into a coherent formula, Boutwell had shown a high degree of courage by voicing his views on the Negro.

Images: Lithograph of Groton By http://maps.bpl.org – Groton, Mass.Uploaded by tm, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27808283. Boutwell House: By Daderot – Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18394405.

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Joseph Pierce: The Civil War Service of a Connecticut Chinese

The American Civil War was first and foremost a clash between Americans in the North and the South. But it still attracted a large contingent of foreign nationals, fighting for both sides. German, Irish, English, Scots, Welsh, Polish, French, Italian, Scandinavian, Canadian, Mexicans, Hawaiians, Native Americans and even Chinese joined the fight. Most, but not all, fought for the Union. The names and stories of men like Joseph Pierce tend to get pushed aside in the narrative of a war fought, after all, over the issue of slavery.

Joseph Pierce was born about 1842 in Guangdong, Qing Empire (modern China). However, both his real name, and the exact date of his birth are unknown. Pierce himself claimed his birth date as Nov. 16, 1842. What is known about his early life begins in 1853 when an American ship captain from Berlin, Conn., named Amos Peck somehow “acquired” him. He either paid the boy’s father $6 or the paid boy’s older brother considerably more.

The trade in “coolie” labor (literally “bitter labor”) had reached its height at the time. In 1855, the British and Chinese governments banned the trade. They left it, not surprisingly, to the slave-trading United States to dominate it. Probably the family viewed the boy as an added burden, and they saw a way to ease the burden and get some needed money.

Chinese indentured servant (“Coolie”) being whipped aboard ship. Harper’s Magazine, 1864.

Becoming Joseph Pierce

While the buying and selling of human beings is slavery, that was not to be the case for the young Chinese. Exactly why Captain Peck took the boy is not known. But what is clear is that the relationship was not one of master and slave or indentured servant.

Given Captain Peck’s future conduct, it is clear that he saw it his duty to “rescue” the boy and offer him a better life. The 9-10-year-old Chinese boy joined the ship’s crew – not all that unusual for a boy of that age. Probably because the crew could not pronounce his name, they took to calling him “Joe,” and by default that became his first name. His last name, “Pierce,” apparently evolved from the fact that Franklin Pierce served as president of the United States in 1853.

When Captain Peck and the now Joseph Pierce arrived back in Connecticut, the family treated Joseph not as a possession but as one of them. He attended school and went to church with the family.

The United States had no immigration laws during most of the 19th century in America, and the individual states mostly decided on citizenship status.

All in the Family

There is no indication that Pierce had any real problems integrating into the Connecticut society in Berlin. Peck, still a ship’s captain, left for long periods on voyages. If Pierce was to be accepted or rejected as a family member, these long absences offered an opportunity for either one. But Peck’s wife Eliza, took, Joseph into the fold. She taught him to read and write. Along with the rest of his new brothers and sisters, she sent him to school.

Interestingly, Peck’s voyages to China kept him involved in the coolie trade. However, he was swiftly becoming disgusted by its brutality. In fact, the only real difference between the African slave trade and the coolie trade was the color of the skin of the “cargo.”

Illustration of the port of Amoy, where many Chinese labourers were shipped to foreign lands.

Pvt. Joseph Pierce

When the Civil War began in 1861, Joseph Pierce was now about 19 years old and thoroughly Americanized. He undoubtedly would have followed the progress of the fighting. Most likely he would have seen at least a couple of the young men he knew enlist. Then on Aug. 23, 1862, the 14th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Regiment mustered at Camp Foot near Hartford. On Aug. 26, 1862, Joseph Pierce enlisted in the regiment at New Britain, in Company F, as a private for a three-year term. At the time of his enlistment, he was described as 5’ 5” tall, with dark hair, black eyes and, not surprisingly, a dark complexion. When Pierce enlisted, the 14th Connecticut had already left for Washington, D.C., and he would have joined them there.

It should be remembered that in 1862, Blacks were not allowed to fight for the Union. The Union Army was white. But since Pierce joined along with other men and friends from the Berlin area, he would have been already accepted as part of the community and his origin overlooked.

Antietam

Less than a month later, on Sept. 16-17, 1862, the largely untrained 14th Connecticut and Joseph Pierce fought in the bloodbath at Antietam in its baptism of fire. The regiment’s monument at Antietam describes the action:

Advanced to this point in a charge about 9:30 A.M., September 17th , 1862, then fell back eighty-eight yards to the cornfield fence and held position heavily engaged nearly two hour; then was sent to the support of the first brigade of its division at the Roulette Lane two hours; then was sent to the extreme left of the first division of this Corps to the support of Brooke’s Brigade and at 5 P. M. was placed in support between the Brigades of Caldwell and Meagher of that Division overlooking ‘Bloody Lane,’ holding position here until 10 A. M. of the 18th when relieved.

Confederate dead lie in the “Bloody Lane” after the Battle of Antietam, 1862

At Antietam, the regiment lost 38 killed, 88 wounded and 21 missing. Antietam saw the greatest loss of American lives in a single day in history. It was a rude awakening to Joseph and the men of the 14th Connecticut to the realities of war. During the battle, Joseph fell while climbing over a fence, injuring his back. Sent to a Union hospital in Alexandria, Va., he stayed there off and on. At some point he worked as a hospital orderly. Then in May 1863, he rejoined his regiment, probably in time to participate in the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 1-5, 1863.

From Chancellorsville, the Army of the Potomac, including Pierce and the 14th Connecticut, began the Gettysburg Campaign. They followed Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia north into Pennsylvania. The regiment arrived at Gettysburg on the evening of July 1, 1863 and went into line on Cemetery Ridge. Of the over 1,000 men who marched out of Connecticut in August 1862, only about 160 men were present for duty at Gettysburg less than a year later.

Gettysburg

About halfway between the Union line on Cemetery Ridge and the Confederate line on what is now Confederate Avenue, sat the 60-acre William & Adelina Bliss Farm. It did not take long for Confederate pickets to occupy the farmhouse and barn and begin serious sniping on the Union Line. The farm would change hands three times over the next day and a half as both sides tried to push the other back. Eventually, on the morning of July 3, the 14th Maine was ordered to take and hold the barn and house. But shortly after the order was given, it was modified, to allow them to burn the house and barn if it got too “hot.”

However the regiment had now charged several hundred yards under fire and had retaken the area, driving the Confederates back into the farm orchard. The first messenger with the new order was wounded. A second messenger, Sgt. Charles Hitchcock of the 11th New York, made his way through a gauntlet of fire with orders to torch everything. By now, the 14th Connecticut had discovered why it was so difficult to hold on to the buildings. The barn was poorly sited to take the house under effective fire with no firing ports facing the house, and the house itself was more a bullet sieve than a place of cover.

Getting the new order, the regiment put the house and the barn to the torch and fell back to their line on Cemetery Ridge under rifle and cannon fire, taking their 20 dead and wounded with them. The respite would be short lived since sometime after noon – no one knows the exact time – the Confederates started their bombardment of Cemetery Ridge in prelude to the grand charge.

A Soldier of Commendable Bravery

An article written by Chenyu Zhang, entitled “’A Soldier of Commendable Bravery and Pluck:’ Joseph Pierce’s Struggle for Citizenship” describes his actions at Gettysburg as follows:

Pierce went out first on the skirmish line on July 2, and volunteered for the attack on the Bliss farm on July 3. Upon capturing the Bliss farm, Pierce and his men struggled to capture the house as the rear of the barn provided no openings to shoot from. ‘[The men] had received orders to capture the buildings ‘to stay’ and the faithful men know no other course than to obey commands’ The detail returned triumphant with the building set aflame behind them…The day was far from over and Pierce would help repulse Pickett’s Charge…

The Union Line under Confederate bombardment at Cemetery Ridge

For Pierce and the Union soldiers all along Cemetery Ridge, waiting for an attack that all knew was coming would have been a form of mental torture. Over 100 Confederate guns began a two-hour bombardment of the Union line, primarily aimed at Union gun positions. Fortunately for the Union, the Confederate artillery was badly manned and aimed. Most rounds were fired high. This, of course, was hindsight for the Union soldiers. So, at the time, the fear would have been very palpable when they had to sit for two hours listening to the deafening roar and crash of shells, unable to respond.

The 14th Connecticut

Joseph Pierce would have manned the low wall protecting the men of the 14th Connecticut as they huddled under the incessant Confederate cannon fire. It lifted as 12,000 Confederate troops began the mile-long charge wrongly referred to as Picket’s Charge. Picket’s Division was just one of several Confederate divisions involved, and the 14th Connecticut would fight on the right of the Union line. That included fighting elements of the 13th Alabama, 26th North Carolina and 14th Tennessee Regiments.

Zhang’s article goes on to say:

…Pierce ‘carefully stuffed his long queue down the back of his dirty uniform shirt and pulled lightly on the breech of his Sharp’s to double check its load.’ The breech-loading Sharp’s rifles allowed Pierce and his men to fire ‘so rapidly that the barrels became to hot to use, and they poured precious water from their canteens to cool the barrel.’ The Confederate lines broke quicker in front of Pierce’s regiment than anywhere else,…

Monuments to 14th Connecticut Infantry Regiment (dedicated in 1884), 1st Massachusetts Sharp Shooters (dedicated 1886) and 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery (dedicated 1886) with other monuments in background on Hancock Avenue, at Gettysburg

The monument for the 14th Connecticut at Gettysburg states the following:

“The 1th C.V reached the vicinity of Gettysburg at evening July 1st, 1863, and held this position [on Cemetery Ridge] July 2nd, 3rd and 4th. The regt. took part in the repulse of Longstreet’s grand charge on the 3rd, capturing in their immediate front more than 200 prisoners and five battle-flags. They also, on the 3rd, captured from the enemy’s sharp-shooters the Bliss buildings in their far front, and held them until ordered to burn them. Men in action 160, killed and wounded 62.”

Cpl. Joseph Pierce

Fewer than 100 men were fit for duty on the morning of July 4 when the Confederates retreated. Joseph Pierce was one of the lucky ones.

When the fight ended, Pierce and other men were detailed to tend to the Confederate wounded lying in front of their position. The regiment held the position for one more night until it was evident that Lee had retreated. Then began a three-month movement following Lee back into Virginia. The 14th Connecticut saw minor action in the Bristoe Campaign on Oct. 9-22, 1863. It also saw some action in the Mine Run Campaign of Nov. 26-Dec. 2, 1863. Then the regiment went into winter quarters at Stoney Mountain, Va.

In the midst of all this, Joseph Pierce won promotion to corporal on Nov. 1, 1863.

Joseph Pierce, by William Hunt

When the war started, rank was generally more of a popular affair than one of skill and competence. By this stage of the war however, rank, particularly enlisted rank, almost always went to the ones most qualified to hold it. The rank of corporal is a leadership rank. Pierce’s promotion says much of his ability, leadership and courage under fire. It also clearly indicates racial prejudice was not an issue in the 14th Connecticut. It was the highest rank of any of the approximately 50 Chinese that served in the Civil War.

The Face of the Army

Then in February 1864, Corporal Pierce came down with acute rheumatism. The condition is described as: “…characterized by swelling, tenderness, and redness of many joints of the body. It is a part of rheumatic fever. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a similar condition that happens when the immune system attacks your own tissues and causes joint pain, swelling, and stiffness.” Sickness in various forms was a staple of Civil War camp life, and a greater killer and disabler than combat. Acute rheumatism would have made it almost impossible for Pierce to continue active campaigning. On Feb. 29, 1864, he was sent on recruiting duty, presumably back to Connecticut to refill the depleted ranks of the regiment. Again, Zhang notes: “On recruiting duty, Pierce became the face of the Union Army and the United States.”

Since by this time, the 14th Connecticut was in great need of new blood, the fact that Pierce was trusted as a recruiter speaks volumes for the regiments respect for his character over his color and origin.

Apparently, Pierce rejoined the 14th Connecticut in time to participate in Grant’s Overland Campaign. Pierce’s record is unclear after his return, but the 14th Connecticut fought in a series of fierce battles including the Battle of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, Totopotomoy, and Cold Harbor. The regiment then went on to take part in the First Assault on Petersburg on June 15-18, 1864, and in many of the battles that evolved around the Siege of Petersburg until April 2, 1865, culminating in the assault and fall of Petersburg. Pierce and the 14th Connecticut took part in the Appomattox Campaign and were present on April 9, 1865 when Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House.

The Grand Review

After the surrender, the regiment moved north, leading the 2nd Corps of the Army of the Potomac as it left Petersburg, marching through Richmond enroute to Washington, D.C. On May 23, 1865, Pierce and the 14th Connecticut took part in the Grand Review when 145,000 Union soldiers marched from the U.S. Capitol to the White House in celebration of their victory.

The Grand Review by Matthew Brady

Cpl. Joseph Pierce mustered out on either May 30 or 31, 1865. He then traveled with the regiment to Hartford, where the army formally released them from service. A civilian once again, Joseph returned to the land and took up farming for a short time in New Britain. Sometime between 1865 and 1868 he became a naturalized citizen. Farming didn’t last long, and in 1868 he the New Britain Excise Tax List described him as a “peddler.” Another source indicates that he moved to Meriden and learned the trade of silver engraving over the next two years. He followed that profession for the rest of his life.

Joseph Pierce, civilian

Life for Joseph Pierce maintained a normal pace, unhindered by his race. Described by his friends and neighbors as very fashionable, a picture from the time shows a handsome young man immaculately dressed. He still had his distinctive pigtail. Keeping the pigtail clearly indicates that he did not attempt to hide his origins.

Sometime around 1875-early 1876, Pierce became acquainted with Martha A. Morgan, an 18-year-old American girl from Portland, Conn. And on Nov. 12, 1876, the Reverand R. S. Eldridge of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Branford married the couple. The union would produce two daughters and two sons.

Chinese Exclusion Act

Reflecting more current times, anti-immigration and racism again raised its ugly head in 1882. Congress that year passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. The Coolie Prohibition Act had been passed in 1862, meant at the time as an adjunct to anti-slavery acts since coolies were seen as forced labor. But it had not stopped Chinese from freely immigrating after the war. This large influx of Chinese now was seen as a problem. Up to 1882, the federal government did not control immigration, leaving it up to the states.

The Chinese Exclusion Act was the real start of a federal immigration system. The act was callously effective and basically stopped Chinese from entering the country for decades. In 1892 the act was broadened to require “certificates of residency,” the precursor to green cards, that required all Chinese, including naturalized Chinese, to register. For Joseph Pierce, it set a dangerous precedent, and a pretense reflected in modern times. Zhang’s article notes: “In 1894, four newspapers, including one from as far as Arizona territory, reported on Pierce’s fear of deportation. The New York Tribune states the following:

Joseph Piece, and American citizen of Meriden, Conn., has been in this country since he was 10 years old, served through the Civil War, and is now on the pension rolls, but as he was born in Canton, China, he has been ordered by the Internal Revenue Collector of Meriden to register as a Chinaman, under the Geray Act. Jospeh naturally objects, as he fears his registration may lead to deportation after May 1.”

Unlike modern times, however, Joseph’s adopted community rallied behind him and supported him. By 1900, the Meriden residents had convinced the federal government that Joseph was actually Japanese. The 1900 and 1910 census records reflect that, and list all his family as “white.”

Joseph Pierce, Proud Veteran

Joseph Pierce remained proud of his Civil War service for the rest of his life, attending several veterans’ reunions. Zhang’s paper states regarding one veteran’s reunion: “‘Joe’ was a great favorite with us, as was evident from the hearty, vociferous round of applause with which he was greeted by the boys as he entered the hall at our recent meeting, his bright eyes snapping and sparkling in his honest face as they were wont to years ago.”

Illness plagued Joseph’s last years. So, in 1907, he petitioned to increase his 1890 Civil War Service pension due to his medical problems. He died on Jan. 3, 1916, from influenza compounded by chronic bronchitis and the arteriosclerosis that had troubled him since 1864. He was buried in the Walnut Grove Cemetery in Meriden, Conn.

Joseph’s wife, Martha Morgan Pierce, died in 1926. The couple’s son Franklin Norris Pierce was born in 1882 and died in 1952. Their second son, Howard Benjamin Pierce, was born in 1884 and died in 1959. Their daughter Lula Edna Pierce’s birthdate in unknown but she died very young in 1895. Little is known about a fourth daughter, Edna Berta Pierce. It would appear that neither of the sons married.

Images: Monuments Mumper & Co, photographer. Monuments to 14th Connecticut Infantry Regiment dedicated in , 1st Massachusetts Sharp Shooters dedicated 1886 and 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery dedicated 1886 with other monuments in background on Hancock Avenue, at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania / Mumper & Co., Gettysburg, Pa. Gettysburg United States Pennsylvania, None. [Gettysburg, pa.: mumper & co., between 1886 and 1900] [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2024640868/.

Union Line on Cemetery Ridge:(ca. 1887) Battle of Gettysburg. , ca. 1887. May 16. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2003663828/.

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The 1st Maine Heavy Artillery Regiment, Tragic Heroes of the Civil War

All the Union regiments that fought in the Civil War paid a price in lives for the cause. While illness often took as many men as combat, some regiments saw more than their share of sacrifice on the field of battle. No regiment in the Union Army paid a higher price in blood than the 1^st Maine Heavy Artillery Regiment.

Mustered in Bangor, Maine, on Aug. 21, 1862, it was originally raised as the 18^th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Recruits, enlisting for three years, came mostly from the Penobscot River Valley area. As their history notes: “With the exception of the colonel, quartermaster and sergeant major our officers had seen no real service, so the lieutenant colonel, major, ten original captains, and all the lieutenants were entirely new to the service.”

Three days later it left for Washington, D.C. The regiment saw duty for the next four months manning the defenses around the capital and Alexandria, Va. On Jan. 6, 1863, the regiment was reconstituted as the 1^st Maine Heavy Artillery. Trained as infantry, it now had to learn the art of artillery. Fortunately for the men, it remained in the defenses of Washington for the entire year. Had nothing changed, the regiment would have had a quiet term of service far from danger, something most of the men did not desire.

Members of the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery Regiment

The 1st Maine Heavy Artillery at the Front

Fate intervened on May 15, 1864. The 1^st Maine was assigned to Taylor’s Heavy Artillery Division, part of the 2^nd Brigade, 4^th Division, 2^nd Corps, Army of the Potomac. It was one of 5 heavy artillery regiments sent to the front as reinforcements. While it would retain its heavy artillery designation, it fought as infantry for the rest of the war. The regiment immediately took part in the Rapidan Campaign. As its history also notes: “The order May, 1864, to join the Army of the Potomac for active service was gladly received. Camp and fatigue life had become monotonous. We had not up to this time realized what actual war was.” They soon experienced the most brutal of welcomes.

On May 19, 1864, the regiment saw its first action in the Spotsylvania battle at Harris’ Farm/Fredericksburg Road. Suddenly thrust into combat after their long, sedentary garrison service, the largely untrained regiment must have had a rude awakening. What they lacked in training, however, they did not lack in courage.

The Battle of Spotsylvania

Over 1,000 men went into the fight. For two hours they stood in classic line formation, exchanging fire with their Confederate foes. Completely exposed, in a poorly chosen position, they lost half their men. The regiment suffered 155 killed and mortally wounded, 375 wounded and two captured. Pvt. Charles J. House, lightly wounded in the battle, recalled returning to the field later that night.

Ghastly and Lifeless

“I noticed eight or ten of our men laid out side by side, the beams of the moon struggling through the fleecy clouds, lighting their upturned faces all smeared with smoke of battle, some showing gaping wounds, and all ghastly and lifeless,” he wrote. The 532 total casualties were the largest loss up to that time in the war of any single Union regiment. The 1st Maine would shortly surpass its own dubious record.

Gen. Ulysses S. Grant noted their courage in this fight. “These artillery troops fought with the steadiness of veterans. The impressions made upon the old organizations of the army established the reputation of all these new arrivals as well-disciplined veterans worthy to be classed with an equal number of regulars.”

In miliary terms, a 50 percent loss traditionally makes a unit combat ineffective. At this point of the war, however, neither side could afford to pull units out of action regardless of loss. Without pause, the 1^st Maine went on to fight small actions. On May 21 at Milford Station they lost one killed, two captured. From May 23-26, they lost two more killed and six wounded at North Anna River. And on May 28-31 at Totopotomoy, the regiment lost three killed, 10 wounded and three captured.

With only a one-day pause, it next fought in the ill-advised campaign at Cold Harbor from June 2-13, 1864, suffering one killed, one captured and 27 wounded. Moving on to Petersburg at the start of the siege, the 1^st Maine would undergo a trial of fire unequaled by any other regiment.

The 1st Maine Heavy Artillery at Petersburg

On June 18, 1864, General Grant attempted to storm the Confederate entrenchments at Petersburg with a grand assault. Charging in the center of the Union effort, the 1^st Maine had to cover at least 350 yards of open ground into the mouth of Confederate guns and cannon. The 850-man strong regiment charged in three lines of three battalions, which included lightly wounded men and presumably a scattering of replacements.

Ulysses S. Grant

Union commanders delayed the attack from early morning to later in the afternoon. As the 1^st Maine history states: “The period of waiting for the word seemed an eternity. There was probably not a staff officer in Mott’s division who had seen these lines that did not feel that the undertaking was well nigh impossible at this hour.”

With the 1^st Maine in the lead, the attack stepped off and all the assaulting units faced a storm of fire from a well-prepared and forewarned enemy. Gradually the veteran regiments on either side of the 1^st Maine fell back. The 1st Maine history then picks up the story.

“The enemy’s firing along their whole line was now centered into this field. The earth was literally torn up with iron and lead. The field became a burning, seething, crashing, hissing hell, in which human courage, flesh and bone were struggling with an impossibility, either to succeed or return with much hope of life. So in 10 minutes those who were not slaughtered had returned to the road or were lying prostrate upon that awful field of carnage.”

Carnage

Pvt. Joel Brown witnessed his regimental commander, Col. Daniel Chaplin, confronted by the Division commander, Gen. David Birney. Birney said, “’Col. Chaplin, where are your men?’

“I shall never forget his answer,” said Brown. “‘There they are, out in the field where your tried veterans dared not go. Here, you can take my sword; I have no use for it now’ and the old hero sat down in the road and cried like a child.”

Hundreds of dead and wounded now lay in the open. Attempts to recover the dead or rescue the wounded failed because of increased firing and more casualties.

The 1^st Maine history described the scene.

So terrible was the fire for days at this point that no further attempt was made, either to bring any off or to bury the dead except in the darkness of the night. It was an appalling sight, to take a desperate chance for life, peering over the breastworks across this field of slaughter, strewn thick with blue-coated bodies of those sterling sons of Maine, decomposing in the fierce rays of a Southern sun.

Siege of Petersburg

With this desperate attempt, the Siege of Petersburg had begun. Grant would try no more mass frontal assaults. The 1^st Maine Heavy Artillery Regiment lost 615 men of the approximately 850 engaged — 242 killed, 372 wounded, one captured. It would sadly be the greatest loss suffered by any Union regiment during the war. In little over a month since it reached the field of battle, the 1^st Maine Heavy Artillery sustained 1,209 casualties, killed, wounded and captured. Lest one begin to try to match the math of casualties with the men present for battle, it should be remembered that many lightly wounded came immediately back to their regiments, and many men were wounded more than once.

The Siege of Petersburg would last until April 3, 1865. With the few uninjured men, the returning lightly wounded men, and a trickle of replacements, the 1^st Maine would now be embroiled in the fighting around Petersburg for the rest of the war. They were now a shadow of their former selves that somewhat naively marched into Virginia just over a month before. While the History of the 1^st Maine is not clear, it does note that the Army of the Potomac was receiving replacement troops at this time, how many of them, if any, went to the 1^st Maine is unknown. It is likely that the regiment had less than 300 effective men present for duty at this time.

On June 22, 1864, only four days after their ill-fated charge, the 1^st Maine was again in action at the Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road, losing 4 killed, 15 wounded and 21 taken prisoner. Though present at the ill-fated mine explosion at Petersburg on July 30, it only had one man wounded. Thata indicates the regiment was not seriously involved.

The Loss of Chapin

The Second Battle of Deep Bottom/Strawberry Plains from Aug. 16-19, 1864, resulted in two killed and eight wounded. Though a small affair on the surface, one of those killed was Col. Daniel Chaplin (brevet major general). Beloved by his men, in the midst of all of their suffering he had held the regiment together.

His loss was a bitter blow, according to the 1st Maine history. Chapin was “a born soldier, attractive and magnetic in person, a fine horseman with commanding presence. He gave to his officers a royal friendship, to his soldiers a fatherly care, and to all a considerate appreciation of merit wherever found. He was brave almost to recklessness, but modest withal. His service was that of the Regiment till his wound at Deep Bottom brought grief to us and death to our beloved Colonel.”

Daniel Chaplin

War allows little time for grief. The regiment then took part in the relatively minor affair at The Chimneys on Sept. 9, 1864, with six taken prisoner. Then it lost four killed, three wounded and one captured at Squirrel Level Road on Oct. 2, 1864. The regiment saw its next major action at the Battle of Boyden Road.

More Losses for the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery

The Battle of Boydton Road took place on Oct. 27-28, 1864. The battle, a move to cut a vital Confederate supply line, went back-and-forth until the Union won. At one point, the 1^st Maine made a rush at Confederates who held two captured guns. The regiment recaptured the guns. As they noted: “Considering the small number of men in our regiment at this time, our loss was heavy; indeed it was more than any other engagement except at Spotsylvania and Petersburg. Ten of our men were killed or died of their wounds, 25 were wounded, and 12 were made prisoners.” The Union, in an exposed position, pulled back after the victory. Both sides essentially went into winter camp, with the major fighting dying down.

From Dec. 7-12, 1864, the 1^st Maine took part in Warren’s Hickford Raid, destroying a rail line. The regiment didn’t suffer any casualties in that small affair. But it did witness an episode that did not make it into the often-sterilized Southern histories of the war.

Sussex Courthouse

Stuck out in the open, without real shelter, things started routinely, if uncomfortably enough. The 1st Maine history describes what happened.

“None of us will ever forget the night of the 8^th. The rain which began to fall in the evening changed to sleet, and the ground was covered with a coating of ice, thickening every hour. Trees were loaded, and the wind tearing through the branches made them snap and groan and shriek, like complaining phantoms. Colder still it grew all through the night, until a chilly-looking sun came creeping up to look out upon a crystal landscape. None of us who had occasion to be about in the night, breaking through the ice and snow into the mud, were in any humor to appreciate the beauties of the landscape in the morning.”

Happy to be on the move in the morning, the regiment soon encountered large numbers of Blacks fleeing their servitude. “They came in bands with bundles and bags, the strong assisting the weak, women toting their babies, leading their young.” In spite of the hardships, it was a somewhat light-hearted affair, until the regiment reached the Sussex Courthouse.

Encampment of refugees from slavery

Awful Tales

“It became apparent to us that farmers roundabout were acting as guerillas. They had been riding around our vicinity, picked up some of our sick men who had not been able to keep up and had murdered a number of them. The information was brought to us by negroes, who offered to prove it by leading us to different places where the victims had been buried during the night. Detachments were sent out to ascertain the truth, and it was found that the awful tale brought by the negroes was not fiction. We found bodies with throats cut, heads crushed in; some stabbed with knives and pitchforks; one quartered with legs and arms cut off; others with their faces blown full of shot and powder.”

In retaliation the troops burned the courthouse, but the worst had yet to come.

“When we recrossed the river [the Nottoway] …we found that some of our men who had been sick and too weak to keep up with rapidly moving column had not reached the Nottoway until after the pontoons had been taken up and were unable to cross,” the 1st Maine history reported. “They had evidently been murdered in cold blood by some of the natives; old men, women, or boys who were not in the Confederate Army. Some had been stabbed with knives, heads and limbs severed from their bodies by axes; others had been felled by shot from shotguns, and others stabbed by pitchforks where they had taken refuge in an old tobacco house. The rage and indignation of officers and men aroused by these sights in indescribable.”

More Action for the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery

Gen. Gouverneur Warren may or may not have issued a specific order to retaliate. But in any event, squads set out into the nearby countryside and destroyed everything they came across. Given the evil they had witnessed, there is no record of anyone killed in retaliation.

The fall of Richmond

Not until March of 1865 did the regiment see its next action. The war in Virginia was drawing to a close. The Union Army had cornered Lee in the area in and around Petersburg and Richmond. Lee belatedly tried to retake Fort Steadman on March 25, 1865, a see-saw affair that again saw the 1^st Maine in the heart of the battle. It ended in a complete Confederate failure.

The Appomattox Campaign started on March 28, 1865. The 1^st Maine remained on the periphery of the fighting around Petersburg as Grant sought to box in the Confederate Army. On April 1, 1865, Confederate forts around Petersburg quickly fell to Union assaults. “The johnnies were on the run,” trying desperately to avoid getting cut off, noted the regimental history. Lee could no longer hold either Petersburg or Richmond, and the Confederate government fled. A race now began on April 2, 1865, between the Union forces and Lee’s army. The Army of the Potomac and the 1^st Maine Heavy Artillery moved to stop Lee from fleeing to North Carolina.

On April 6-7, 1865, the 1^st Maine Heavy Artillery fought in the last major battle of the Civil War around Sailor’s (Saylor’s) Creek, Va. Really a series of running battles, the Confederate forces were caught strung out in two lines and met with disaster. They lost a quarter of their remaining combat forces and several generals. The 1^st Maine suffered its last combat losses: three men killed and 37 wounded. Three days later, on April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox Courthouse.

Appomattox Courthouse

Still More War

This was not the end of the war. Confederate armies remained in the field in North Carolina and Texas. But it was the end of the war for the 1^st Maine Heavy Artillery. Setting off on a march north from Appomattox, the regiment was joined by released Confederate soldiers going home. The mood, at least for the Maine men, was joyful. But two days into the march, the news of Lincoln’s assassination reached them, shattering that bright spirit.

“Groups of men gathered about their officers to learn the truth,” the regimental history reported. “A grim and funereal silence seized the camp, officers and men seemed to be dazed…All day they stood in groups, looking into each other’s faces, scarcely speaking.” The next morning, the regiment continued north, a little more sober, but still filled with hope for a brighter future that the nation would endure.

By May 16, 1865, the regiment reached Washington, D.C. A week later, it took part in the Grand Review. The entire Army of the Potomac marched through the capital, reviewed by the new president, Generals Grant and Meade, the Cabinet, the Congress, diplomats and throngs of civilians. The next day, Sherman’s army also passed in review. Nothing, perhaps, will ever equal the spectacle, forever imprinted in the memory of all who marched.

The Grand Review

Finally, Home

The regiment’s combat days may have ended, but their service had not. With no little irony, the 1^st Maine Heavy Artillery reported to garrison forts in the Washington defenses. They had left those forts 13 months previously. Not until September 11^th did the regiment muster. It traveled by rail to Bangor, Maine, arriving on Sept. 17, 1865 and camping on the old arsenal grounds. They received their discharge on Sept. 20, 1865.

The regiment that marched home to Maine had changed from the one that left in August 1862. A shadow of its former self, after 10 months of combat, 441 men would never return to their families. Another 923 men came back wounded, many with injuries that would bother them for the rest of their lives. The Confederates had imprisoned 64 of them. All told, the regiment lost 1,428 men. At least they had not sacrificed in vain. They had helped preserve the Union and end slavery. They would take justifiable pride in their accomplishments and sacrifice for the rest of their lives.

The author had two cousins that fought with the 1^st Maine Heavy Artillery. Cpl. Abijah K. Ayer was wounded at Spotsylvania and in the charge at Petersburg, being discharged due to his wound. Pvt. Horace Howes, wounded at Spotsylvania, rejoined the regiment in early 1865.

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The Joshua Chamberlain House: Home of Maine’s Greatest Hero

Ask any Mainer what historical figure they most admire, and odds are good the answer will be “Joshua Chamberlain.” He’s as close to a state hero as Nathan Hale in Connecticut, Ethan Allen in Vermont or Nathaniel Greene in Rhode Island. The Joshua Chamberlain House in Brunswick is worth a pilgrimage for both Chamberlain fans and Civil War buffs.

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, by Matthew Brady

Chamberlain served as governor of Maine and president of Bowdoin College, but he is best remembered for his heroism at the Battle of Gettysburg. A college professor who earned a commission as a colonel, he led the 20^th Maine Infantry Regiment, afterward known as the hardest fighters ever.

Joshua Chamberlain at Gettysburg

The 20th Maine was defending Little Round Top on the second day of the battle. Had the Confederate Army taken the hill, it would have then broken through and vanquished the Army of the Potomac.

Late in the afternoon, the badly outnumbered 20th Maine had held off three fierce Confederate charges when it ran low on ammunition. Chamberlain had two choices: hold the hill, which meant certain destruction of his regiment, or retreat, which meant the Confederates would overrun and destroy the Union army.

Instead, Chamberlain ordered his men to fix bayonets and charge down the hill. His men fixed bayonets and charged down the hill. The shocked rebels broke and ran. The 20th Maine captured about 100 prisoners.

Gettysburg

Governor of Maine

Chamberlain was wounded six times during the Civil War, but he survived. He returned to Maine an immensely popular war hero. Voters elected him to four consecutive one-year terms as governor.

In 1866, he set the record for the most and the highest percentage of votes for any Maine governor until then. He broke his own record the next year.

He left government in 1870 to serve as president of Bowdoin College. But he was called back to duty in 1880, when he had to quell the Maine Capitol Riot.

As president of Bowdoin College, Chamberlain hosted visitors in his parlor

Maine was on the verge of its own civil war, with a hundred armed and angry men inside the Statehouse facing off against an armed and angry mob outside the building. Each side believed the other had stolen the election for governor.

The governor resigned, leaving Maine with no government. Then each faction formed its own government as they airmed firearms at each other. Joshua Chamberlain was the one man who could resolve the crisis. He took charge as acting governor. Chamberlain kept the peace for 12 days while the courts decided on the victor. During that time, he survived several attempts to kidnap him and he faced down would-be assassins.

In the end, he returned to Bowdoin and continued as president for another three years. His battle wounds caused him pain throughout the rest of his life. He had been shot in the groin and used a primitive catheter, which caused infection and fever. Chamberlain died in 1914, the last Civil War soldier to die from wounds suffered in battle.

His house now serves as the Joshua L. Chamberlain Museum.

Joshua Chamberlain House

The house was originally a single-story dwelling built in the 1820s. Chamberlain rented it with his new wife, Fanny, in 1856. Another Bowdoin College professor, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, had rented rooms in the house previously.

The Chamberlains bought the house in 1859. When Chamberlain became college president, he realized he needed more room for visitors and receptions. He had the house moved 300 feet, jacked it up and added a new story under what used to be the first floor. Some of his visitors included Ulysses S. Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman and George McClellan.

Joshua Chamberlain’s dining room

After Chamberlain and his wife died, the house went to their daughter Grace. She turned it back into an apartment building. By the 1980s the house was a wreck and slated for demolition. In 1983, the Pejepscot Historical Society bought it and began restoring it. Today, the renamed Pejepscot History Center offers guided tours from Memorial Day weekend through October, and private tours year round.

You don’t have to be a Civil War buff to enjoy a tour of the Joshua Chamberlain House, but it helps. The house itself will transport you to the 1860s.

Five Things You’ll Remember About the Joshua Chamberlain House

Civil War Artifacts

Easily the most memorable items in the house are Chamberlain’s Civil War artifacts. They include the boots he wore at Gettysburg, his sword, his saddle, the minie ball he lived with for the rest of his life and his Medal of Honor.

Those aren’t the only Chamberlain artifacts, however. Bowdoin College maintains an artifact display at the Campus Library on the third floor.

Chamberlain’s Civil War memorabilia

The Second Floor

Visitors marvel at the second floor, originally the first. What used to be the front door now opens onto a balcony.

The Chimney

When the Chamberlains remodeled the house, they added red Maltese Crosses, including one on the chimney. They honor the 5^th Corps, to which Chamberlain belonged.

A reunion of the 5th Corps veterans. Note the Maltese Cross.

Family Photos

Chamberlain and his wife, Fanny, lived in the house for 50 years. They had five children, but only two, Harold and Grace, survived to adulthood. The museum includes photos of the Chamberlain family over the years.

Governors Chair

Elaborate carved furniture was the height of Victorian fashion, and the Chamberlains succumbed to it. Chamberlain’s study has the desk he used as governor and his chair, which has a carved war eagle and a raised star at the top.

The Neighborhood

Brunswick has the youthful liveliness of a college town, along with a number of restaurants and shops. Four blocks of the town’s very walkable Maine Street comprise the Brunswick Commercial Historic District.

Across from the Joshua Chamberlain House you’ll find the First Parish Church, where the Chamberlains worshipped. Pine Grove Cemetery, where they lie buried, is nearby. Down the street from the museum itself you’ll find the Joshua Chamberlain Statue.

Bowdoin Campus

Bowdoin itself has a lovely campus, at least in warm weather. It has several museums, including the Peary MacMillan Arctic Museum, the Bowdoin Museum of Art and the Hawthorne-Longfellow Library. Bowdoin also owns a house that Harriet Beecher Stowe lived in while she wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin. A room in the building, called Harriet’s Writing Room, is open to the public. The house was once a stop on the Underground Railroad.

Across the river towers the Cabot Mill, in which children once made textiles. Now it serves as an antique mall.

If you visit:

You can only visit the house on a guided tour. They’re held Memorial Day through the end of October, Tuesday through Saturday at 10 a.m, 11:30 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Check the website before going.

For a private tour in the winter months, allow four business days to arrange. There’s a form on the website: https://pejepscothistorical.org/visit/the-joshua-l-chamberlain-museum/A combination ticket allows a tour the Skolfield Wilkins house.

The house has staircases difficult for people with mobility problems to navigate. It has a small gift area.

Dining room: By Pi3.124 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=105477568; parlor By Pi3.124 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=105477567; memorabilia By Pi3.124 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=105477576.

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