Preliminary Remarks—Early War Action in Massachusetts—Birth of the Regiment, and how it chanced to be designated the Twenty-ninth.

The Twenty-ninth Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteers had its origin in some of the earliest war actions of the people of this patriotic Commonwealth, though its numerical designation would seem to suggest a state of facts quite the contrary.

The citizen who finds the name of his ancestor on the “Lexington Alarm List” of the 19th of April, 1775, considers himself richer than before in all that constitutes a proud family record, and feels that an honor has been conferred upon him by reason of this early and honorable military service of his progenitor. In a war waged for the defence of the Republic established by the toils and sufferings of our revolutionary fathers, at Lexington and on later fields, it is an honor not to be lightly esteemed to have one’s name recorded and borne upon the roll of those who were the first to enlist in a cause so worthy.

This honor belongs in a peculiar sense to those volunteer soldiers who composed the seven companies that formed the nucleus of the Twenty-ninth Regiment; for they were not only among the first to enlist, but were the first in Massachusetts and all New England to be mustered into the service of the United States for a term of three years.1

As the history of the regiment, therefore, begins with the beginning of hostilities, we must preface our account of its organization with some pertinent remarks concerning the earliest efforts to raise troops in Massachusetts.

The first official act relating to the war was the somewhat famous General Order, No. 4, by direction of the Governor, dated January 16, 1861, requiring the Adjutant-General to ascertain with accuracy the number of the officers and men of the volunteer militia who would instantly respond to any call of the President of the United States for troops. On the 23d of January, 1861, the Legislature passed a Resolve, tendering the aid of the Commonwealth to the President of the United States, in enforcing the laws and preserving the Union. On the 15th of February, an Act was approved, providing for the retention in the service of all volunteer militia companies then existing, and for the organization, “as the public exigency may require,” of additional companies of cavalry, artillery, and infantry, the same to be formed, on petition to the Commander-in-Chief, by the mayor and aldermen or selectmen of cities and towns. The first appropriation which seems to have been made for war purposes was by an Act, approved April 3, 1861, the text of which we here give because of its importance:—

“Resolved, That the Adjutant and Acting Quartermaster-General be, and he is hereby authorized, under the direction of the Governor and Council, to provide, either by contract or otherwise, a sufficient number of overcoats, blankets, knapsacks, haversacks, and other articles of equipment, camp utensils, and trenching tools, as may be required to equip two thousand troops for active service; and a sum not exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars is hereby appropriated for that purpose.”

[Chap. 67, Acts of 1861.

Other Acts were passed subsequently to these already named, though not so directly pertinent, but all having the same object; namely, the preparing of the militia for active service, and providing the means of carrying on the war, then so soon expected to burst upon the country. Of these several Resolves, none are perhaps more noticeable for the strong spirit of patriotism that pervades them, than those of May 21 and May 23, 1861. The first was an Act entitled “An Act in addition to an Act to provide for the maintenance of the Union and the Constitution,” and is preceded by the following preamble:—

“Whereas, The people of Massachusetts regard with like feelings of loyalty and affection the Government of the United States and that of their own Commonwealth, and deem it fit that the arms of each should be strengthened by all which the other can give;

“And whereas, Some emergency may arise, during the recess of the Legislature, in which the aid of Massachusetts may be of service to the General Government in its financial arrangements; therefore, Be it enacted,” etc.

By this remarkably patriotic Resolve, the Governor, with the advice of the Council, was authorized to issue scrip, or certificates of debt, in the name of the Commonwealth, for such sums, not exceeding seven millions of dollars, as he, with the advice of the Council, might deem needful. The scrip so issued was to be sold, and the proceeds loaned to the United States Government, or expended in purchasing its treasury notes, or “delivered to the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, in exchange for obligations of the United States Government, of corresponding amount.”

The second Resolve referred to was entitled “An Act in aid of the families of volunteers, and for other purposes,” by which cities and towns were permitted to raise money by taxation, and apply the same in aid of the wife and children of any of their inhabitants who, as a member of the volunteer militia, enlisted into the service of the United States. By the same Act, it was provided that the State should reimburse towns and cities for all aid furnished in pursuance of this law, to an extent limited therein; and by section four of the Act, any city or town was authorized “to organize an armed police or guard,” whenever danger from an attack by sea was apprehended.2

For nearly three months before the first act of hostilities, the militia of the Commonwealth were busily engaged in drilling in their several armories; almost nightly, throughout the long, memorable winter of 1861, the patriotic soldiers of the State assembled and received from their instructors, lessons in the manual of arms and other military matters, and prepared themselves as best they could to answer the first summons to the field.

Finally, as the winter waned, and the signs of war began to thicken, these citizen-soldiers became clamorous for active service, and on the 13th of April, the Adjutant-General addressed a letter to the Secretary of War, asking permission to garrison forts Warren and Independence, in Boston Harbor, with two regiments of the militia. “I believe,” said the Adjutant-General, “that our troops would like to do garrison duty until called upon by the President for active service. The regiments might alternate every four or six weeks, and thus they would learn much that would be of service to them, and hold the forts against attack or surprise.”3 In this letter, it was stated that we then had five thousand infantry, properly officered, armed, and equipped, though only three thousand of them were armed with rifled muskets, the others having “the old smooth-bores,” that had “been changed from flint-lock to the percussion.”

The desire of the volunteers to enter upon active service was soon gratified. On the 15th of April, only two days after the date of this letter, a telegram was received from Senator Wilson at Washington, requesting twenty companies to be sent to Washington to act in the defence of that city. This was followed on the same day by a formal demand by telegraph from the Secretary of War, calling for two full regiments of militia. This demand was at once complied with, for, on the same day, Special Order No. 14 was issued by the Governor, “directing Colonel Jones of the Sixth Regiment, Colonel Packard of the Fourth, Colonel Wardrop of the Third, and Colonel Munroe of the Eighth, to muster their respective commands on the Boston Common forthwith.” The order was transmitted by mail and special messengers to the various colonels, who severally resided at Lowell, Quincy, New Bedford, and Lynn. The companies composing these regiments were scattered throughout the cities and towns of the counties of Essex, Plymouth, Bristol, Norfolk, and Middlesex. But during the day and following night, nearly every man was notified, and on the morning of the 16th the regiments arrived in Boston. The Third and Fourth regiments were ordered to proceed “forthwith” to Fortress Monroe, Va., while the Sixth and Eighth were sent to Washington. The Fourth left Boston on the 17th of April, and the Third on the following day, the two regiments arriving at Fortress Monroe on the 20th of April, and becoming a part of the garrison at that post. Neither of the last two commands contained the maximum number of men; the Third Regiment having, both officers and enlisted men, only 450, while the Fourth, somewhat stronger, numbered 636.

It appears from the Report of the Adjutant-General of 1861, that from the 13th of April to the 20th of May,—the former being the date of the attack on Fort Sumter,—one hundred and fifty-nine applications for leave to raise companies were granted. These applications were not in every instance made in pursuance of the Act of February 15, 1861 (Chap. 49), but were often, and perhaps in the majority of instances, made by private individuals and the persons who desired to enlist. We have before us a copy of one of these rolls, the agreement of enlistment being as follows:—

“We, whose names are hereunto affixed, do severally consent, and, by our signatures hereunto made, do agree to be enrolled into a company of volunteer militia, to be raised in the town of —— and vicinity, subject to orders of the Commander-in-Chief; and we do hereby agree to serve for the period of five years, unless sooner discharged agreeably to law, and this enlistment we enter into with the full understanding that we are liable at any moment to be ordered into active service under the Government of the United States.”

These enlistment papers were prepared by the Adjutant-General, issued at his discretion, and accompanying each paper was a copy of General Order No. 8, dated April 22, 1861, announcing the conditions upon which enlistments would be received. These were substantially as follows: That when the requisite number of men to form a full company had enrolled their names, and the authorities of the cities or towns where such companies were formed had attested the roll and certified their approbation of the application, an inspection of the men by a competent surgeon was to be ordered.

By this order, it was also announced that the “companies organized in the vicinity of existing regiments which at the present time have not ten companies, will be annexed to said regiments until they are full.”

The laws of the Commonwealth made no provision for the pay or subsistence of these volunteers until they were ordered by the Governor into active service, yet this proved no hindrance to the work of enlistment, which went actively on. To such of these companies as were likely to be called into active service, arms were issued by the State, while the uniforms were provided by the local authorities, and in some instances by private individuals.

It was under the circumstances which we have just narrated, and at this time, that the seven original companies of the Twenty-ninth Regiment were formed.

The company commanded by Captain Chamberlain, raised in Lynn, was gathered as early as April 18; the companies commanded by Captains Tyler (afterward Wilson) and Clarke, raised in Boston, were recruited April 19; the companies commanded by Captains Leach, Chipman, Barnes, and Doten, raised, respectively, in East Bridgewater, Sandwich, East Boston, and Plymouth, were all formed about April 20. There was no concerted action among the officers and persons who recruited these companies, nor was it understood at the time of their formation that they were to be united in the service, their subsequent union being one of the many accidental occurrences of the war.

The original term of enlistment of these commands was five years in the State’s service; but before they could be put in preparation to take the field, the President had concluded not to accept any more militia troops.

On the third day of May, the National Executive issued a call for a force of volunteers, “to serve for a period of three years, unless sooner discharged.” Nearly every man of these companies at once enlisted under the new call.

Governor Andrew concluded to make up the deficiency of men in the Third and Fourth regiments, then at Fortress Monroe, with these three years’ troops, and accordingly, on the 10th of May, the companies commanded by Captains Tyler and Chamberlain were despatched to Fortress Monroe, where they were assigned to duty with the Third Regiment.

On the eighteenth day of May, the commands of Captains Leach, Doten, Barnes, and Chipman were ordered to the same place, where they were assigned as follows: Captains Doten’s and Chipman’s companies to the Third, and Captains Leach’s and Barnes’s companies to the Fourth Regiment. Four days later, the company commanded by Captain Clarke was ordered to Fortress Monroe, and, upon arrival, was attached to the Fourth Regiment. These companies served in the Third and Fourth regiments from the dates of their respective assignments till the expiration of the three months’ term of the latter commands, when, on the sixteenth day of July, 1861, they were, by order of General Butler, commanding the department, organized as the “Massachusetts Battalion,” retaining the latter organization until December 13, 1861, at which time, upon the addition of three new companies, commanded, respectively, by Captains Sibley, Richardson, and Tripp, they became the Twenty-ninth Regiment.

This delay in forming the battalion into a regiment resulted in depriving it of the honor of being the First Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers; for while it was toiling upon the ramparts of Fortress Monroe, mounting guns under the withering rays of a July sun, throwing up earthworks at Newport News, fighting and marching, and thereby obtaining for the Government a foothold upon the soil of rebellious Virginia, twenty-eight regiments of infantry had been organized in Massachusetts and sent to the seat of war.

By this explanation, it will appear to the general reader how the first three years’ volunteers of Massachusetts chanced to be designated the Twenty-ninth Regiment.

There are many curious and interesting facts connected with the raising and formation of these companies, which cannot be better given than by devoting a brief chapter to each. The history of the organization of these commands forms an important part of the history of Massachusetts in the earliest days of the war; and while the tracing of that history may expose to criticism the unmilitary ideas of our people, at the same time it cannot fail to exhibit, in strong colors, their deep love for the Union, and their willingness to make the greatest of sacrifices for its salvation.