The twentieth regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, 1861-1865

Preface

The history of the Twentieth Massachusetts Regiment is presented at this late day to its surviving members and such others as may be interested in its story.

Some time after the close of the war Mr. John C. Ropes, widely known as a lawyer, and the world over as one of the most critical and gifted of writers upon military subjects, was chosen as our historian, and the position was accepted by him. The pressure of business and the completion of other literary works in which he was interested so consumed his time that he was not able to perform a task which would have been for him a work of love.

Mr. Ropes was an intimate friend of many officers of the regiment, and he followed its career with an interest that never ceased. His brother. Lieutenant Henry Ropes, one of its most promising young officers, was killed at Gettysburg. Subsequently Captain Edward B. Robins, who joined the regiment in the fall of 1864, was chosen his successor.

The circumstances under which the present volume has been prepared are set forth in the following letter from Colonel George A. Bruce, who served in Virginia until the close of the war,

Boston, January 30, 1906.

To the Officers' Association of the Twentieth Massachusetts Regiment, Dear Sirs, — I send you to-day the last sheets of the history ready for publication. You know how unvi PREFACE

willing I was to take up a task that naturally belonged to others and not to me. I was not only a stranger to the regiment, but, though serving in the same army, never even saw it. Every military organization, great or small, during a long war like that in which we were engaged, develops an individuality of its own that is in marked contrast with that of all others. To write the annals of the regiment, to give to its history a true coloring, and set it forth in vivid language, it is necessary that he who does it should have been one of its members. Only he who has been with a body of men in camp; who has witnessed the every-day way of doing the ordinary routine duties; has listened to their talk, their jokes, their songs, their prayers; has marched by their side and with them into battle ; seen them in the hour of victory ; followed them after bloody repulses, and witnessed with what quickness and intelligence they would again rally on the colors ; seen them on the skirmish line, where t,hey display their individuality and at the same time reflect the spirit of their corps, — can ever get quite within the atmosphere which they have created about them and come to know them as they really were. . The first two chapters are practically as they were received by me, but somewhat abbreviated. The account of the Battle of Ball's Bluff is relatively too long, but it is the only correct and complete history of it that I have ever seen. As a piece of military writing it is worthy of being preserved. Massachusetts lost more of her sons there than in many of the more important engagements, and it produced a shock in this community at the time scarcely second to any battle of the war. It caused the death of the brilliant United States Senator Edward D. Baker of Oregon, then colonel in command; it involved the reputation of the com-

PREFACE vii

mander-in-chief of the army, and resulted in the imprisonment for a long time of General Charles P. Stone, about which there is still more or less of a historic mystery. For these reasons it seemed best to leave the account as it stands.

The picture of a skirmish line halfway up the bluff, holding back for hours the victorious Confederates who had gained the crest, while heroic men were endeavoring to carry over in frail boats and skiffs the wounded to Harrison's Island, the coming on of night, the dark river pebbled into foam by a shower of bullets, through which hundreds of men were struggling for their lives to reach the further shore, presents one of the most tragic and thrilling events of the war.

The Twentieth was one of the most notable regiments in the service. It stands fifth on the roll of those that suffered the heaviest losses during the war. It is not unworthy of mention that it was oflScered largely by young men fresh from Harvard University. For this reason it was popularly known as the Harvard regiment. It was they who gave to it in a great measure its character, though associated with them were some others possessed of the true military spirit. That they constituted a body of men of exceptional ability and character is evident from the high rank attained in the service by so many, as appears from the following list : —

Brevet Major-General William F. Bartlett !

Brevet Major-General George N. Macy Brevet Brigadier- General William Raymond Lee Brevet Brigadier-General Francis W. Palfrey Brevet Brigadier-General Paul J. Revere Brevet Brigadier-General Charles Lawrence Peirson Brevet Brigadier-General Charles A. Whittier Brevet Brigadier-General Caspar Crowninshield viii PREFACE

Brevet Brigadier-General Edward N. Hallowell Brevet Brigadier-General Arthur R. Curtis Brevet Brigadier-General Henry L. Patten

Others would have been added to the list but for their early death in the service.

Soon after the return of the regiment, a fund was raised among its friends, with which was purchased and erected to its memory the Lion from the studio of St. Gaudens on the stairway of the Boston Public Library. An alcove in the same building was also fitted up with appropriate memorial tablets, and the sum of five thousand dollars was put in the hands of the Trustees for the purchase of military books to be placed therein.

The monument at Gettysburg was erected by the Regimental Association, which includes both officers and enlisted men. The bronze tablet placed upon it was given by Mrs. Nathaniel Thayer of Boston, a daughter of Colonel Paul J. Revere, the third colonel of the regiment, who was killed there.

More than forty years have elapsed since the close of the conflict in which we were engaged, and as no letters or diaries written by any one of the officers or men were handed to me of a date later than June, 1863, 1 have made up the record as best I could from official reports, general and regimental histories, files of newspapers covering this eventful period, and the few facts furnished me by surviving members.

GEORGE A. BRUCE.

Contents

I. Early Experiences 1

II. The Upper Potomac and Ball's Bluff ... 16

III. From the Potomac to the Chickahominy . 78

Chapter I Organization And Early Experiences

On the twenty-seventh day of June in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-one, Wilham Raymond Lee, a former classmate of Jefferson Davis at West Point and a veteran of the Florida War, then a civil engineer by profession, was appointed by Governor Andrew to command the Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment, and was requested to select his field and staff officers. He immediately nominated Francis Winthrop Palfrey for lieutenant-colonel, and Paul Joseph Revere for major, and these nominations were accepted by the Governor on the following day. On the first of July he sent in the names of Charles Lawrence Peirson for adjutant, and Charles W. Folsom for quartermaster, which were also accepted.

On July 2, Colonel Lee requested that the Twentieth should be ordered into camp, and proposed Sprague Plain, near Sprague Pond at Readville Station, eight miles from Boston on the Boston and Providence Railroad, as a suitable place for a camp. This was immediately accepted and proved to be all that was desirable, and a large area in that neighborhood extending to the Neponset River was used as a camp by many troops until the close of the war.

On this date Lee, Peirson, and Folsom were respectively appointed acting colonel, acting adjutant, and acting quartermaster, as they could not be commissioned until the regiment was organized, and ordered to report for duty.

The ten companies assigned to tWe" regiment were ordered to report to Colonel Lee at this camp on Wednesday, July 10, at 1 p. m. In place of two of these companies William Francis Bartlett and John C. Putnam were authorized to recruit men for new companies, I and H. The first selected George N. Macy for his first lieutenant, and Henry L. Abbott for his second lieutenant; the latter chose N. P. Hallowell for his first lieutenant, and H. H. Sturgis for his second, the Governor having ordered on this day that the commissioned officers of a company of volunteers should be one captain and two lieutenants only.

On July 6, F. W. Palfrey was appointed acting lieutenant-colonel and ordered to report to Colonel Lee. On July 8, Colonel Lee, Quartermaster Folsom, and Captain Dreher with thirteen men of Company C laid out the camp. It was an ideal place for a camp, — a gentle slope with sandy soil which quickly dried after a rain, covered with a thick carpet of grass, bordered on two sides by beautiful old elms, and with the " Blue Hills " of Milton but a mile away. Close by was a pond of clear, cool water which supplied us and in which the men persisted in bathing, notwithstanding strict orders issued on complaint of the owners of the ice-houses on the opposite side. The loud challenge to the grand patrol every evening by the sentries in the vicinity would give ample time for the crowd of bathers to scatter and steal back to camp. A short distance beyond the pond was the

Neponset River, while the raih'oad station was only a pistol-shot from camp.

Into this camp the nucleus of the Twentieth Massachusetts moved on July 10, 1861, and tents were pitched in the afternoon. General Order No. 1 gives to the camp the name of " Camp Massasoit," and orders the detail of two men from each company as company cooks, and a detail of one non-commissioned officer and four privates each from Companies C and D as the first guard, to be stationed at the store-house.

Recruiting was slow and difficult at this time, as the earlier regiments had exhausted the first enthusiasm of the community. Therefore a large proportion of the officers were obliged to be absent from camp on recruiting service. With the exception of the men enlisted in Nantucket by Lieutenant Macy, no particular locality was represented in the regiment. In this respect the Twentieth probably differed from every other Massachusetts regiment, and more nearly resembled those of the Regular Army. This had its advantages as well as its disadvantages. While it gave us a smaller proportion of clean, country young men, it also saved us from the townmeeting idea of government, and from the jealousies between towns, and gave us a body of individuals who were easily disciplined when once their own personal independence was yielded.

The camp was pitched in regulation style, with company streets, which were marked with distinguishing names, for instance. Company C's street being called "Folsom Street" in honor of the quartermaster and commissary. The regiment soon settled down to drill and hard work in guard and all the other duties of the soldier. In this first week cookshops were set up, company cooks got into the traces, a refrigerator was sunk, and the regiment was able to cook not only for itself but also for the Eighteenth Massachusetts, which occupied the adjacent field.

Major Revere came out on the 12th and in a very few days there was battalion drill every afternoon, generally under command of Colonel Lee, sometimes of Lieutenant-Colonel Palfrey, while Major Revere hovered along the flanks. His cheerful command, "Guides, cover!" will be remembered by all the sergeants of that time. The regiment improved very much in discipline, but it was a long time before the men could appreciate that they must remain in camp, even when off duty, and must not follow their own sweet will in going up to Klemm's at Mill Village for a sociable glass of beer. Some of the stragglers to this village were not content with a moderate supply of beer, but indulged in something stronger. The resulting drunkenness finally caused a raid by the major and adjutant with a small detail who took possession of all the liquor on the premises and turned it into the street. On being asked by what authority he committed this act of violence, the major laid down a large horse-pistol on the bar and said, "This is my authority!"

On July 16 medical inspection preparatory to muster into the service of the United States was held by Surgeon Bryant and Assistant Surgeon Hayward, assisted by Norton Folsom, afterwards a medical cadet. Companies A, B, C, D, and E were inspected at 8.30 a. m., and Companies F, G, H, I, and K at 2 p. M. On the 18th new recruits, including twenty-three from Nantucket received the evening before, and all not previously inspected, were examined. Those present will never forget Surgeon

Bryant's delight at the physique of the Nantucket recruits, especially that of Sergeant Kelly when he removed his clothes.

On July 18 the regiment was mustered into the United States Service by Captain Amory. Company B, however, to a man, refused to take the oath except on condition that their present acting company officers should be commissioned. The company was therefore not mustered, but was immediately dismissed and forbidden to appear at evening parade. The next day Captain Herchenroder and First Lieutenant Le Barnes called on Colonel Lee to express Iheir surprise and regret at the conduct of their company, while the men decided to take the oath. The company then marched to the Colonel's quarters and apologized and was then restored to its position in the line without any promise being made it. The following day it sent a petition to the Governor, signed by fifty-nine men, asking him to commission the present acting officers. These three officers were commissioned in due course by the Governor on the recommendation of Colonel Lee and at the same time as the officers selected for the other companies.

The mustering officer reported the men already enlisted as so deficient in stamina and capability that not more than one third of them were equal to the average of his experience as mustering officer for Massachusetts. The Colonel gave the strictest orders for the medical inspection of recruits and reported to the Governor that many of the men must be discharged. In response he was given full discretion to grant discharges, and many men were thus sent home before the regiment left the state.

On July 22, the day after the battle of Bull Run, when it seemed as if the regiment must be ordered into the field immediately, half filled and half drilled as it was, the list of oflicers was most carefully examined and nine of them were dropped, while Companies A and E were transferred bodily the next day with their oflficers to the Nineteenth Massachusetts. In their places were ordered to the Twentieth Captain Joseph Hayes and Lieutenants Holmes and Whittier for Company A, Captain Tremlett for Company D, Captain Schmitt and Lieutenants Lowell and Putnam (with the men enlisted by them) for Company E, First Lieutenant Cabot for Company F, and Second Lieutenant Tilden for Company K. Captain Tremlett was transferred to Company A, while Captain Batchelder returned to Company D, but he resigned on August 2, and Caspar Crowninshield was nominated on August 12 as his successor and was commissioned accordingly.

On the afternoon of the 26th Company B and those absent at previous muster with new recruits were mustered into the service by Captain Chipman. On Sunday, the 28th, inspection occurred in the morning, and at 4.30 p. m. services were held in camp by the Reverend Dr. Dwight of Dedham. The next day notice was given that, by act of the legislature, the men would be paid by the commonwealth "from the day when they went into camp to the day when they were mustered into the service of the United States."

On July 31 the first death in the regiment occurred. Thomas Tracy, a recruit who had joined the day before and been assigned to Company K, went to bathe in the river with a party of nineteen others under the charge of a first lieutenant accompanied by the assistant surgeon. While in the water, he suddenly disappeared with a cry. In spite of immediate diving and the greatest exertions of both of the oflScers and men, his body was not recovered for three quarters of an hour, when hfe was extinct.

Guard duty had by this time been thoroughly organized, and consisted of two kinds, — the main and the picket guards. The former consisted of one lieutenant, one sergeant, three corporals, and forty-five privates; the latter of the same number of commissioned and non-commissioned oflficers with thirtynine privates ; — making a total of two commissioned oflScers, eight non-commissioned officers, and eighty-four privates. A captain was detailed each day as officer of the day.

The morning report of August 12 gave a total of four hundred and sixty-eight enlisted men. On that evening Sergeant Buguey, commanding a squad of fourteen men of Company C, left camp to bathe. Outside of camp an agent of the New York Irish Brigade met them and induced the sergeant and eleven men to desert, while three of them returned to camp. The twelve men were followed and arrested at Mansfield, where they had stopped to transfer to the train for New York, and were lodged in Suffolk County jail together with the enticing agent.

On August 19 orders were received from Washington to forward the regiment immediately, and Colonel Lee was called upon for a complete roster of his company and staff officers, so that the commissions might be issued. After' careful consideration among the field and staff the rank of the company officers was settled as follows:

CAPTAINS FIRST LIEUTENANTS SECOND LIEUTENANTS

1 Bartlett Babo Abbott

2 Crowninshield Macy Milton

3 Putnam, J. C. Hallowell Messer

4 Dreher Perry Tilden

CAPTAINS

FIRST LIEUTENANTS

SECOND LIEUTENANTS

5 Tremlett

Capen

Putnam, W. L.

6 Schmitt'

Beckwith

Wesselhoeft

7 Herchenroder

Cabot

Sturgis

8 Sweeny

Holmes

Muller

9 Walleston

Lowell

Whittier

10 Shepard

Le Barnes

Day

These oflficers were accordingly commissioned in their respective companies, all commissions being dated July 10, their relative rank being decided as above. The field and staff were commissioned to date July 1. No chaplain or non-commissioned staff had then been selected. Colonel Lee reported his "ability and readiness to march on a few hours' notice with three days' rations, cooked in camp, with about 500 officers and men, somewhat drilled, and with the few wagons that were ready." The companies took their proper positions in line according to the relative rank of their captains:

LEFT

FLANK

COLORS

RIGHT

FLANK

D

B

K

A

G

H

F c

E

I

<v

:a o d

-H

4-> •4-1 a

O h t

'a

a;

a

0) 0)

a

M m

^ m

Pi* t-i c3

These positions were held until after the battle of Ball's Bluff.

On August 21 the morning report showed five hundred and thirty-eight as the aggregate strength of the regiment. On the 27th, the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Regiments having started for the front, General Bullock, in command of the recruiting-station, was ordered to send all recruits to the Twentieth until it should be filled. He sent nearly two hundred and fifty during the following week, but that much-desired result — full ranks — was never obtained.

On August 30 Mrs. Caleb Chase and other ladies presented a beautiful silk standard to the regiment. Governor Andrew was received at the railroad station by two companies and escorted to camp, where the regiment stood ready to receive him. He presented the standard with remarks that were undoubtedly grand and appropriate, but which were lost to most of us in consequence of the high wind then blowing. The standard was a beautiful state flag, with the coat-of-arms of the commonwealth on one side, and on the other the simple motto: *'Fide et constantia."

Soon afterwards our old smooth-bore muskets were exchanged for Enfield rifles which were carried for the remainder of the war. These were the regulation muskets of the English Army, bought in England by an agent sent there by Massachusetts immediately after the firing on Sumter. It was not considered quite so good a gun as the new Springfield rifled musket, but it was a good rifle and decidedly superior to any of the other guns given to our soldiers. Many, even of the Massachusetts troops, had only old smooth-bore Springfield muskets, recently altered from flint-lock to percussion, owing to the impossibility of getting a sufficient number of rifles of any kind.

On September 2 we received orders to leave for the front two days later. On Wednesday, September 4, tents were struck at 10 a. m. and all preparations were made for the start. A detachment of eighty men went to Cambridge in the morning, took charge of our formidable train of wagons, consisting of twenty-five baggage-wagons, two hospital-wagons, and five ambulances, with one hundred and twenty horses, including those of the field and staff, brought them to Boston and put them onto the cars. In doing this. Corporal Herbert Hawley of Company G was fatally kicked by a horse at the Providence Depot at Boston.

The regiment left Camp Massasoit at 4 p. m., boarded the train and started at 5.20 for Groton, Connecticut, where it took the steamboat Commodore for New York. With the regiment were several officers and about fifty men belonging to Massachusetts regiments in the field, going out to join them. We did not go into Boston and have a parade on the Common as so many of the regiments did on their way to the field. In fact, the Twentieth never appeared in Boston as a regiment, neither when it first left for the war, nor when it re-enlisted, nor on its return at the close of the war. The regiment returned to Readville in 1865 as quietly as it left there in 1861. No regiments were invited by Governor Andrew to parade in Boston at the close of the war except our two colored regiments of infantiy and one of heavy artillery.

The roster of the regiment was :

Colonel :

William Raymond Lee,

Roxbury.

Lieutenant-Colonel :

Francis Winthrop Palfrey,

Boston.

Major :

Paul Joseph Revere,

Boston.

Adjutant:

Charles Lawrence Peirson,

Salem.

Quartermaster:

Charles W. Folsom,

Surgeon :

Henry Bryant,

Boston.

Assistant Surgeon:

Nathan Hayward,

Roxbury.

Sergeant-Major :

Sylvanus R. Harlow,

Waltham.

Quartermaster-Sergeant :

Henry Frederick Sander,

Boston.

Commissary-Sergeant :

Edward Hennessey,

Boston.

Hospital Steward:

John Honnard,

Boston.

Company A.

Captain :

First Lieutenant:

Second Lieutenant:

Company B.

Captain : First Lieutenant: Second Lieutenant:

Company C.

Captain :

First Lieutenant: Second Lieutenant:

Company D.

Captain: First Lieutenant: Second Lieutenant:

Company E.

Captain : First Lieutenant: Second Lieutenant:

Company F.

Captain : First Lieutenant: Second Lieutenant:

Company G.

Captain : First Lieutenant: Second Lieutenant:

Company H.

Captain : First Lieutenant: Second Lieutenant:

Company I.

Captain :

First Lieutenant: Second Lieutenant:

Company K.

Captain : First Lieutenant: Second Lieutenant:

Henry M. Tremlett, Boston.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Boston.

Charles A. Wliittier, Boston.

John Herchenroder, Boston.

John W. Le Barnes, Boston.

August Muller, Boston.

Ferdinand Dreher, Boston.

Alois Babo, Boston.

Reinhold Wesselhoeft, Boston.

Caspar Crowninshield, Boston.

George E. Perry, Boston.

Nathaniel Thayer Messer, Boston.

George Adam Schmitt, Cambridge.

James Jackson Lowell, Boston.

William Lowell Putnam, Boston.

Edward A. Walleston, Boston.

Charles FoUen Cabot, Boston.

Charles O. Day, Boston.

Henry J. Sweeny, Boston.

Henry Capen, Boston.

William F. Milton, Boston.

John C. Putnam, Boston.

Norwood Penrose Hallowell, Cambridge.

Henry Howard Sturgis, Boston.

William Francis Bartlett, Winthrop.

George Nelson Macy, Nantucket.

Henry Livermore Abbott, Lowell.

Allen Shepard, Boston.

Allen W. Beckwith, Boston.

Charles Linzee Tilden, Jr., Boston.

The regiment left Readville with the above mentioned officers and about seven hundred and fifty men on September 4, 1861.

The Sons of Massachusetts residing in New York met us at the landing and gave us a grand reception and a fine dinner at the Park Barracks. Frank E. Howe, New York agent for Massachusetts, presided, with Governor Andrew on his right and Colonel Lee on his left. Speeches were made by David Dudley Field, Governor Andrew, Charles A. Dana, Colonel Lee, Charles H. Emerson, and W. E. Hampton.

The regiment then marched up Broadway to the ferry and reached Philadelphia at 6.30 a. m. on September 6. The generous hospitality of that city was extended to us in the form of an excellent breakfast at the old "Cooper Shop," which so liberally entertained all Northern soldiers passing through in either direction at any time during the war, and for which we ever afterwards had a tender place in our hearts. One enthusiastic recruit joined us here, and was assigned to Company K. Starting again at 9.30 a. m. we arrived in Baltimore at 10 p. m. with our state flag unfurled and rifles loaded, — but not a hiss or reproach was audible. We rode from here to Washington in cattle-cars with benches placed across, and spent until 2.30 a. m. of the 7th in this palatial and rapid transportation! The regiment was hurried to the front with ranks but three quarters full, — it being impossible to wait to recruit the remainder! Yet it took fifty-seven hours to carry us from Readville to Washington, — a trip which now occupies twelve hours of a regular express.

We spent the morning of the 7th at the big barracks near the station called the " Soldiers' Retreat," not far from the Capitol, and here we breakfasted and dined. At 3 p. m. we marched down Pennsylvania Avenue, passing in review before Lieutenant- General Scott, who appeared on a balcony in full uniform, out to Camp Kalorama on Georgetown Heights, about two miles from the city. It was very hot and very dusty, and this our first march was trying, so that we were glad to halt and pitch our tents about 8 p. M. We had for neighbors the Nineteenth Indiana and a Pennsylvania regiment, but in every direction were troops, — hubbub and confusion ; — the whole country looked like one great camp. But We received no cheers nor even attention, except from Massachusetts troops, which seemed strange and cold after our receptions at every city and town en route. Colonel Lee was immediately given command of the Fourth Provisional Brigade of General Burnside's Provisional Division. This brigade comprised the Twentieth — to which Captain Saunders's Company, First Massachusetts Sharpshooters, was temporarily attached — and a Pennsylvania regiment commanded by Colonel Lesure.

By the 9th we had just begun to get things straightened out, when we received orders to move and to report to Brigadier-General F. W. Lander. By the time we had nearly finished upsetting our comfortably arranged tents and prepared to move, the orders were countermanded and we remained in a state of suspense and discomfort overnight and until 4 p. M. of the next day. On the afternoon of the 10th, however, we actually did move three miles and pitched tents on Meridian Hill, in full view of the city and about one mile from the Capitol, at Camp Burnside. We had no sooner begun to set out a regular camp on thie 11th than we were again ordered to move to

Brightwood in Virginia on the next day. Accordingly on the 12th we loaded up, slung knapsacks, broke camp at 2 p. m., and started to cross the Potomac; but the head of our column had only reached the foot of the hill below camp when the orders were countermanded by an aide-de-camp of General Lander's, and we were started for Poolesville, where General Lander had that day assumed command of our brigade in General Stone's Corps of Observation. We marched nearly north for seven miles over an uneven but not dusty road, and at 6.30 p. m. bivouacked under the starlit skies near Leesborough, Maryland. It was a hot day and this first march seemed very long and fatiguing to the men unaccustomed to knapsacks and marching. The cool night and heavy dew, however, refreshed us all very much, and we caught no colds from our first night without cover. Shortly after midnight the entire regiment, tired as the men were, was awakened and turned out under arms by a most unearthly noise. It was their first experience of a serenade by an army mule. This was started by a single mule and taken up by all his companions in the camp of our wagon-train on the other side of a neighboring hill.

The next morning we fell in for the march at 9.30, and, with frequent halts to rest the men, we made thirteen miles, stopping two miles out of Rockville for dinner, and bivouacking at Muddy Branch on a hillside so steep that lying on the ground brought us almost to a perpendicular position. We started again at 10.15 a. m., sending ahead an advanced guard of picked men from Company I under Captain Bartlett with ten rounds of cartridges, rifles loaded and capped. A rear guard from Company D undej Captain Crowninshield, similarly prepared, was alot thrown out. The rest of the regiment had guns loaded but not capped. These precautions were taken in consequence of General Lander's orders, caused by reports that the rebel cavalry had crossed the river in great numbers intending to cut off our large baggage-train and ammunition.

We made fifteen miles this day and reached Poolesville, Maryland, our objective point, thirty-five miles from Washington, about 7 p. m. September 14, and there reported to General Stone. We were followed by the Nineteenth Massachusetts, and Vaughn's Rhode Island Battery with six guns, both of our brigade, and by 8 p. m. all of us were settled in bivouac where we were hospitably welcomed by the Fifteenth Massachusetts which had arrived a few days before.