Among those summoned to the State House was lawyer, George Henry Gordon, a major in the New England Guards. The 35-year old Charlestown native was one of 2 sons born to Elizabeth Carlisle and the late Robert Gordon. Widowed when George was very young, Elizabeth had moved to a small farm in Framingham. At the age of 18, George entered West Point and became an alumnus of the renowned Class of 1864. His classmates included George McClellan, Thomas Jackson, George Pickett, Truman Seymour, Jesse Reno, George Stoneman and William "Baldy" Smith. Gordon's class ranking was a dim 43rd out of 59 (Pickett had the honor of finishing last), which earned him a berth in the Mounted Rifles.
Like many of his classmates, Gordon received his baptism of fire in the Mexican War, participating in all of the battles fought by Winfield Scott's army. He was awarded a brevet for gallantry at Cerro Gordo, where he received the first of his two wounds. Two months after the capture of Mexico City, he was severely wounded in a hand-to-hand struggle with two guerrillas near the San Juan Bridge.
After the war, Gordon served on the frontier in Washington and Kansas. Still carrying a Mexican bullet in his body, his health would never be completely robust again, and in 1854, he resigned his commission in order to study law at Harvard. He was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar three years later. He became an officer in the New England Guards, where he came into contact with many of the young men who would soon be clamoring to join "his" regiment to put down the Southern Rebellion.
On the advice of Gordon and other officers, Gov. Andrew ordered the forts around Boston strengthened, vacancies in the Militia companies to be filled, plotted the quickest route to Washington, and--to the derision of the less farsighted--obtained from the State Legislature more than $100,000 for the procurement of arms and supplies. Angry voices, both North and South, charged that these alarmist actions would only serve to provoke bloodshed. But Andrew stuck to his guns and when the first shots were fired at United States troops at Ft. Sumter, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was ready to immediately repsond to President Lincoln's call to defend the nation's capitol.
On 15 April, Maj. Gordon was present at the Council of War at the Massachusetts State House when the militia was called into action. He did not share the commonly held belief that the war would be a short, relatively bloodless affair. He had fought alongside of many of the men now offering their service to the Confederacy. These were men of courage and conviction, who would not be whipped in a single battle--certainly not by a seriously reduced regular Army augmented by inadequately trained militia companies whose members were more adept at raising a fraternal glass than a musket. He knew it would take time to train an effective fighting unit, and as the militia could only be called out for a period of 90 days, the nation would eventually be forced to raise volunteer regiments. Gordon stressed this point to Gov. Andrew, asking permission to begin organizing such a regiment, "modelled upon the regular army of the United States," with "an enlistment of men; an appointment of officers; and an indefinite term of service." Andrew expressed enthusiasm for the plan and promised his full cooperation and support once the militia was on its way to Washington.
On April 15th, Gordon informed Greely Stevenson Curtis and Adin Ballou Underwood of the Governor's promised support in his endeavor. Both expressed their desire to serve under his command. They were followed by George Leonard Andrews, who had graduated at the top of his West Point class (1851), but who had no combat experience. Andrews would soon be appointed Gordon's second in command.
Three days later, Gordon was at work in his office when Wilder Dwight, a fellow lawyer from Brookline (the brother of soon-to-be general William Dwight, and kinsman of future general John Sedgwick), called upon him for advice on raising an infantry regiment for the war. Upon learning that Gordon was already in the process of organizing one, Dwight quickly abandoned his plans and begged Gordon to keep him in mind. Gordon's response was politely non-committal, but Dwight took immediate steps to make himself invaluable. That same afternoon he returned with pledges of over $5,000 from prominent citizens interested in contributing funds to equip and sustain the proposed regiment until such time as the burden was assumed by the U.S. Government. So successful was Dwight's fund-raising that after all of the regiment's equipment and supplies were purchased, a refund was given to the subscribers. Gordon's regiment would leave for the field one of the best supplied from any state.
Although Gordon was taken aback by Dwight's persistence in ataaching himself to his regiment, he could not help but fall under the spell of the young man's enthusiasm and seemingly boundless energy. In spite of any misgivings he may have about Dwight's youth and lack of military experience, Gordon ended up awarding him the position of Major.
When word got out that Gordon was raising a regiment of volunteers, recruiting offices were open and a flood of applications for appointments came in. There was just one problem: Gordon had no legal basis upon which to proceed. No call for volunteer regiments had yet been issued from Washington, and Gov. Andrew's letter proposing to raise such a regiment, sent to Secretary of War Simon Cameron, had gone unanswered. Andrew wrote a second letter. This one was hand delivered by George Andrews and Wilder Dwight.
Messers. Andrews and Dwight Go To Washington
With official permission now in hand, recruiting offices were re-opened and Gordon began accepting applications from all over the State from potential officers. Competition was keen and some did not beat around the bush, like the man who promised that "anything that money or political influence can do...will not be wanting." Thanks to a deal he worked out with Gov. Andrew--an arrangement the governor would regret having agreed to--Gordon had sole authority over the appointment of his officers. This did not stop Andrew from "recommending" a company from Lowell raised by Edward Gardner Abbott, the eldest son of an old friend, Judge Josiah Gardner Abbott.
Gordon was willing to give young Abbott an interview, but he made it quite clear that he would accept no companies with elected officers. He would accept the men, but he would appoint the officers. Any unit that did not wish to abide by this condition could seek another regiment to join. Gordon's objective was to get as far away from the militia system as possible and bring his regiment of volunteers as close to the Regular Army standard as possible. The accepted militia practice of electing officers would, he argued, be highly deterimental to discipline.
Ned Abbott's political connections did not assure his acceptance into Gordon's regiment, but Gordon saw in him just the qualities that he was looking for. Tall and dignified, Abbott was a natural leader who expected and exacted a great deal of respect from his well-disciplined men. His company, the "Abbott Grays," became Gordon's Company A.
From Salem, a company dubbed the "Andrew Light Guard" in honor of Gov. Andrew, was raised by lawyer William Cogswell. He was the grandson of Revolution War General, Joseph Badger. His paternal grandfather had been one of 7 brothers who fought for American independence. Gordon met with Cogswell and his lieutenants--Edwin R. Hill (who had some military experience, having served during the Mexican War)and Robert Brown and was favorably impressed. Cogswell's men became Company C.
When a company from Medway was recommended to Gordon by Gov. Andrew, Gordon accepted the men but appointed his own officers. Command of "Company E" went to Samuel Miller Quincy. Slight, aristocratic and somewhat consumptive-looking, Quincy hailed from one of the most prominent families in Massachusetts. His great- grandfather, Josiah Quincy, had risked his career by defending the British officers accused in the "Boston Massacre." His grandfather (also Josiah) had worn the mantels of Congressman, Mayor of Boston, and President of Harvard. Joining Quincy as his lieutenants were William Blackstone Williams and Ochran Hanks Howard.
Charles Fessenden Morse, a young architect from Salem, raised a company in that town and offered it to Gordon, who insisted that it be commanded by a man with whom he was acquainted, Greely Stevenson Curtis. Morse was disappointed but accepted the place of 1st Lieutenant in the hopes of proving himself. He would do so in a big way and the war's end would find him in command of the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry. Company F's 2nd Lieutenant was James March Ellis.
With the prospect of raising full companies in Boston quickly dimishing after the rush of enlistments, a trio of friends--Henry Lee Higginson, William Dwight Sedgwick, and James Savage--opened a recruiting office in Fitchburg, where the Savage family was well known. Savage was the only son of one of the founders of the Boston Atheneum. The previous winter he had surprised Higginson by declaring that he would not take up arms if the South seceded, believing that the North would be better off without the Slaveholders in the Union. But after Massachusetts soldiers were murdered in the streets of Baltimore while enroute to protect Washington from invasion, there was no question of his remaining neutral. He had gone to Gordon and secured a captaincy for himself and a lieutenancy for Higginson, providing they could raise a company. Their efforts were successful and Company D was born.
There was little in the background of Henry Lee Higginson, a decendant of Rev. Francis Higginson, pastor of the colony's first church, that suggested a soldier. His military training was limited to membership in the Salingac Drill Club. He had lasted only 6 months at Harvard before dropping out with "eye problems." While traveling in Europe he decided to make music his vocation, but his aspirations outdistanced his talent and an arm injury settled the matter. With little ambition and few prospects (none of his acquaintences could ever imagine he would one day strike it rich), he jumped at the chance to trade his clerk's pen for the sword.
Joining Savage and Higginson was William Dwight Sedgwick, kinsman of Wilder Dwight. Sedgwick was one of the few officers in the 2nd MA who was outspoken in his condemnation of slavery and hoped the war would obliderate the hated institution forever. Like Savage and Higginson, his constitution was not robust, but he was determined to do his duty. Declaring that he would rather "die in battle twenty times" than see the North yield up its principles, he held firm to his vow on the bloody battlefield at Antitam.
Gordon gave the task of finding a suitable training ground to his newly appointed quartermaster, R. Morris Copeland, a man whose personal ambitions were considerable, and whose openly expressed opinions of his superiors would one day get him booted out of the service. Copeland scouted the nearby countryside and secured a farm in West Roxbury owned by the Rev. James Freeman Clarke, which he let Copeland have free of charge. The property, re-christened "Camp Andrew," had previously been the site of the experiment in transcendentalism, Brook Farm.
The first men to arrive at Camp Andrew were those of Capt. Edward Abbott's A Company. With a piece of artillery borrowed from the town of Roxbury, Abbott assumed command of the post on 11 May. Cogswell's company arrived in 14 May, followed by Joel Parker Whitney's Company F, raised in Lynn and Swampscut, and part of Savage's Company D. Whitney would soon run afoul of Col. Gordon (click here) and see his captaincy go to his 1st Lt.--Charles Redington Mudge. An athletic young man (it was later said of him that he could handle a rifle as if it were a hoe) Mudge had excelled in sports and club activities at Harvard, but not much else, much to the chagrin of his father, Sen. Enoch R. Mudge. Command of a company in the 2nd Massachusetts gave him the opportunity to prove himself as a man.
The same could be said of Mudge's classmate, Robert Gould Shaw, who was promoted into Mudge's spot upon the later's elevation to captain. For Shaw, named for his grandfather, who had been one of Boston's great merchant princes, the war was a godsend. A handsome, thoughtful youth with no prententions of great intellect, he had been somewhat spoiled by his parents, Francis Shaw and Sarah Sturgis--both ardent Abolitionists. While adhering to their views, Shaw found the slavery issue frankly boring. An unambitious student, he dropped out of Harvard to enter the office of his uncle, Henry Sturgis, where he found himself equally unhappy and unfulfilled. A member of the famed 7th NY Militia, Shaw was among the first troops to reach Washington, D.C., where he learned that his best friend--and cousin--Henry Sturgis Russell--had applied for a commission in Gordon's regiment. Russell, one of seven children born to George R. Russell and Sarah Parkman Shaw, had been working in the mercantile business until the 20th of April, when he joined the 4th BN, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia at Fort Independence in Boston Harbor. Shaw was eager to join Harry, and although he did not get a berth in Company G, where Harry was 1st Lt., he found himself pleasantly situated with his old classmate, Mudge.
Russell's company was commanded by Richard Cary, a witty and urbane gentleman, whose ancestors had stepped onto Massachusetts soil from the Mayflower. During the Revolutionary War, his grandfather, Col. Richard Cary, had served on the staff of Gen. George Washington. His other grandfather was Thomas Handasyd Perkins, one of the country's most prominent merchants. Cary had been working in New Orleans before the war and was looking forward to paying his old aquaintances a visit. He was also one of the few married men in the officer ranks.
On the 15th of April, Adin Ballou Underwood marched into camp with Company I. Like so many, Underwood--ancestor of one of the founders of Watertown, MA--was spured into action by the attack upon Ft. Sumter and immediately closed his law office to raise a company for Gordon's regiment. Hw would later command the 33rd MA INF (afterward penning the history of that regiment) and rise to the rank of brevet Major General. His Lieutenants were Marcus Hawes, grandson of a former governor of Massachusetts, and Rufus Choate, the son of the famed orator/senator.
Francis Tucker had written to Gordon in the hopes of securing the position of regimental Quartermaster, but settled for the captaincy of Company H. His was one of the few appointments Gordon would come to regret. His junior officers continued the tradition in the 2nd Massachusetts of filling the line with "Old Blood." Thomas Lawrence Motley was the great-grandson of noted horticulturalist, Benjamin Bussey. He was also the nephew of historian and diplomat, John Lothrop Motley, who throughout the war was one of the regiment's greatest supporters. Rounding out the trio was a descendant of Roger Williams--Thomas Rodman Robeson.
Gordon was lucky to secure the services of a fine surgeon in Dr. Lucius Manlius Sargent, a relation of painter John Singer Sargent, among other prominent Sargents. Equally fortunate was the aquiaition of Alonzo Hall Quint, a Episcopal minister of Spanish descent, who was currently the pastor of the Mather Church in West Roxbury. He was given a 2-year (it stretched to 3 years) leave of absence from his duties in order that he might minister to the religious and moral welfare of the 2nd MA INF. This he did admirably until health considerations forced him to resign in 1864. He assumed the role of regimental historian and produced two books outlining its service during the war.
George W. Blake, who had performed military service in both Florida and Mexico, was appointed Sergent-Major. Gordon's new Quartermaster-Sergent, Erastus B. Carll, spent five years in the 4th U.S. Artillery. Even the color-bearer, Sgt. Francis Lundy, was no stranger to warfare, having fought during the Crimean War (1853-56) in a Russian regiment. Thus did Gordon strike a balance between men of at least some military experience, and volunteer officers of high intelligence and ability. This mixture continued in the enlisted ranks where the majority of the men were considered to be of "good stock."
Finally, there was the soon-to-be-renowned 2nd MA INF band, raised under the auspisces of Patrick S. Gilmore (1829--1892), and led by Charles Speigel. The band would provide many hours of delightful (and theraputic) music, until the govenrment dismissed regimental bands as unecessary.
At Brook Farm, the real work commenced. Gordon and Andrews soon had the troops learning the rudiments of soldiering. The men enjoyed a distinct advantage over many other volunteer regiments in that both colonels had been professional officers. They were taught how to right face, left face, to the rear, by the flank, charge bayonets, etc. At first, not surprisingly, the men treated the whole thing as something of a lark, but the two West Pointers quickly doused them with cold water. The transition from independent private citizen with all sorts of civil rights to a fighting automation who now needed permission to do just about everything and whose entire existence was under the control of men they barely knew, was understandably a shocking one. They had to learn to work and act as a team instead of an unruly mob.
On the part of the fledgling officers, they had to study with far greater diligence than most had ever done while in school, had to learn to lead by example, to give orders and make their men obey them without question--men who, a month previously, they might have greeted as equals on the street. Lt. Robert Shaw could not help pitying his trooper "who are nice respectable men, but who have to be treated just like the rest." But in less than one month, Shaw was reporting that clear progress had been made. "The drilling begins to show now, and the men look very well. They are remarkably well disciplined for the short time they have been here." Major Wilder Dwight was even more enthusiastic. "I think everything swims."
While the enlisted men were kept on a tight leash, life at Camp Andrew was more enjoyable for the officers. West Roxbury was but a short distance from Boston, ensuring a constant flow of friends and family, and any number of parties where admiring young ladies smiled at their impressive Regular Army blue uniforms (which Gordon had insisted on procuring right from the start), red silk sashes and bright epaulettes. However, lest these young men lose sight of their purpose or of their new responsibilities, Cols. Gordon and Andrews were there to remind them. Andrews, in particular, was a stickler for Regulations. "He keeps one eye open at all times, I believe," Shaw informed his mother. A reprimand from either man was not soon forgotten.
On 24 May, Gordon received his commission as colonel of the first volunteer regiment raised in Massachusetts, yet the coveted distinction of being called the "First Massachusetts Infantry" was awarded to a militia regiment bearing that name. Although its colonel's commission came after that of Gordon's, it was pre-dated to May 22. So, it was into the "Second Massachusetts Infantry" that 6 companies were mustered on 27 May, with the remaining 4 quickly filling up.
The 2nd MA INF hadn't even left for the field before having to replace two of its officers. Lt. Harrison Gray Otis Weymouth resigned to accept a more favorable position in another regiment. William Dwight Sedgwick was then transferred from Company D to Abbott's Company A to replace him, and Abbott's younger brother, Fletcher, was given a commission, which he received on the day the regiment left for Virginia. The other vacancy occured when Captain J. Parker Whitney ran afoul of Gordon over what the latter considered a very serious offence. Read all about it.
Whitney's place was taken by a most unlikely soldier--Stephen George Perkins. Another Boston Brahmin, Perkins was a thinker, not a man of action. His cousin and European traveling companion, Henry Lee Higginson thought him "the finest mind I ever met," and Charles Francis Adams declared him one of the "ablest" men he ever knew. While Perkins would complain that his decidedly un-academic new life left little opportunity for intellectual growth, he saw military service as a duty to be fulfilled and was bound to do his part.
On the 26th of June, the 2nd MA INF received the first of its two battle flags. It was presented by Lt. Motley's uncle, John L. Motely. In accepting the colors, Gordon swore to defend it to the death:
After receiving the State flag on July 1st, the men of the 2nd MA INF knew that the day was fast approaching when they would have to say their painful goodbyes. Indeed, 5 days later, Gordon received a dispatch ordering him to join Gen. Robert Patterson at Martinsburg, VA.
Newly minted officers Whitney, Tucker, F. Abbott, Cogswell, Robeson, Francis, Hill, Brown, Choate, Goodwin, Weymouth, Quincy and Sedgwick
"When I look upon this long line of men, eager to fight for their country, and in the youthful but resolute faces of these officers who surround me, I feel a deep sense of the responsibilities on which I have entered, and which, God willing, I will discharge. This flag of our country, which bears on its folds the glorious record of the war of the Revolution, of the War of 1812, and of another conquest of Mexico, has never been trailed in the dust before a foreign foe. It was left to our own countrymen to make the first record of its dishonor...We had been accustomed to regard it in time of peace as only a symbol of our prosperity; but, now that the hour of trial has come, we look to it as the emblem of our freedom and our power. It shall never cease to wave over our whole country."
Vignettes of Camp Andrew
TOP OF PAGE
HOME
Get your own Free Home Page