Memoirs of the war of '61. Colonel Charles Russell Lowell, friends and cousins

PRRSENTI'/) BY

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(JDfCemoirs of the War of'6l

COL. CHARLES),R. LOWELL

SMemoirs of the War of '6i

COLONEL
CHARLES RUSSELL LOWELL

FRIENDS AND COUSINS

' XAJjvuXn

BOSTON
Press of Geo. H. Ellis Co.

1920

1^

DEDICATION

To the young men of 1917 who so nobly risked
their hopes of future usefulness, their health,
their lives, to stand side by side with our Allies
against tyranny and injustice abroad; to those
who fell, and to those who survived to whom
the future of our own country is now intrusted,
— this collection of brief memoirs of the young
men of 1861 is dedicated.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Foreword, with Sketch of Governor Andrew . vii

Charles Russell Lowell i

Henry Lee Higginson 13

Stephen George Perkins 19

James Savage, Jr 22

Wilder Dwight 27

Robert Gould Shaw 32

Henry Sturgis Russell 38

James Jackson Higginson 42

James Jackson Lowell 45

William Lowell Putnam 49

Cabot Jackson Russel 54

Samuel Storrow 57

Sumner Paine 62

JOHN ALBION ANDREW

Governor of Massachusetts

FOREWORD FROM A CONTEMPORARY
OF A GROUP OF SOLDIERS OF THE
WAR OF 1861

Early in the time of our Civil War a set of
photographs, of which these are mainly dupli-
cates, was sent over to some English friends
who had recently been guests here. Placed on
their drawing-room table in London, the por-
traits helped to convince their friends that our
army was not made up of "mere mercenaries."

To accompany the photographs, short me-
moirs have been compiled, from the Harvard
Memorial Biographies and from other sources,
of Colonel Charles Russell Lowell and some of
his friends and cousins, with Governor John A.
Andrew at their head.

There were other friends and cousins whose
services in the war and since the war equally
deserve recognition, but whose photographs
were not at hand when the original collection
was made: the cousins are Francis L. Lee,
Charles Jackson Paine, Jr., William Gushing
Paine, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Charles
Storrow, Jr., Francis Lee Higginson, Warren
Dutton Russell, Frank Lowell Dutton Russell,
John Pearce Penhallow.

vill FOREWORD

A few facts about the times into which these
men were born are worth noting: —

Major Henry Lee Higginson in his address
on Colonel Robert G. Shaw delivered in
Sanders Theatre, Harvard University, Cam-
bridge, on May 30, 1897, said in part: —

"To-day I wish to talk to you of the Fifty-
fourth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer In-
fantry, colored, commanded by Colonel Robert
Shaw; and of slavery, which, as a deadly poison
to our nation, they strove to remove. Any
word of mine which may seem harsh to our
brothers of the South has no such meaning or
feeling. The sin of slavery was national and
caused the sin of disunion. Together we wiped
out with our blood these two great wrongs,
long ago, and we also wiped out all unkind
feeling."

The '^nationaV^ responsibility for the con-
tinuation of slavery did not arise simply from
the fact that in the North slavery had existed
in Colonial days, for in the first census of 1790,
made up by Jonathan Jackson whom Wash-
ington had appointed United States Marshal
for the District of Massachusetts, then includ-
ing Maine, there was recorded under the head-
ing ''Number of Slaves" in that District the
word "non<f." Meantime the foreign slave
trade had been made illegal.

FOREWORD ix

There had been movements toward a similar
policy in the South, when, through Northern
enterprise, cotton factories were set up along
our many rivers, the first spinners and weavers
being girls from the neighboring farms, and
stockholders, many of whom were persons of
moderate means, who had invested their hard-
earned savings, intrusting them to the enter-
prising manufacturers for the new cotton mills.
The Irish famine and other conditions in Europe
soon increased the tide of immigration, which
later was welcomed and encouraged because
it brought not only some highly skilled workers
but also persons who were unskilled but could
be made available for working at parts of this
new machinery.

The question then arose, how could the in-
creasing demand for cheap cotton be met? The
rivers and canals might cause the busy wheels
to turn, and cheap labor might be hired to work
at them; but if the slave trade were to cease,
and if Virginia should cease to raise slaves to
be sold at the more Southern markets for labor
where cotton raising would thrive and cheap
labor was always in demand, who would there
be to plant and gather the cotton or to serve
the white owners of the crops ?

Naturally these considerations may have
tended to confirm the reluctance of the North

X FOREWORD

to break with the South, and perhaps tended
also to bolster up the doctrine of State Rights.
In 1848 the Missouri Compromise was repealed,
and the extension of slavery into the terri-
tories was proposed. In 1850 the Fugitive
Slave Law was enacted and the Supreme Court
had declared that by our Constitution "negroes
were not citizens of the United States," "had
never had any rights which the white man was
bound to respect," "might justly and lawfully
be enslaved for their own good." Meantime
Mrs. Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin," founded
upon conditions which had come to that writer's
knowledge during her residence in the South,
was published March 20, 1852, and translated
into the languages of dwellers in all parts of
the civilized world. In Great Britain, slavery
had been abolished in 1807.

As late as 1850 some of the most public-
spirited Northerners would gladly have nego-
tiated payment by the United States of five or
ten million dollars per year to free the slaves,
but they dreaded a rising of the slaves and were
encouraged by Southerners and by Southern
sympathizers in this dread of that which never
happened, not even during the Civil War, so
loyal were the colored people in the absence of
their white masters.

Under this United States Fugitive Slave Bill

FOREWORD xi

slaves were arrested, tried, even here in Boston,
and sent back to their owners; the last and
bitterest case being that of Anthony Burns,
June 2, 1854.

Just at that critical period, John Albion
Andrew, a young law student from Maine,
graduate of Bowdoin College in 1837, then
entering in November as a student in the ofHce
of Fuller & Washburn of Boston, admitted to
the bar in 1840, friend of Peleg Chandler, had
returned to his old master's office as junior
partner, and had later formed partnership with
Theophilus P. Chandler and with him had
opened an office at No. 4 Court Street.

In 1846, upon the rendition of a fugitive slave
who had escaped in the hold of a vessel and had
been left by the captain on an island in the
harbor, had escaped to South Boston, was re-
captured and returned to his owner in New
Orleans, John Andrew, at a preliminary meet-
ing with Dr. Samuel G. Howe at the house of
Dr. Henry IngersoU Bowditch, September 24,
1846, was chosen secretary of a committee and
was intrusted with the work of collecting testi-
mony in the case and presenting it to the grand
jury, but this evidence was pronounced insuf-
ficient. At the Faneuil Hall meeting, Febru-
ary 24, 1846, where John Quincy Adams pre-
sided, Andrew read the resolutions, and a

xli FOREWORD

Vigilance Committee of forty members was
appointed, "Andrew's purpose being to abide
by the law, but to wring from it the utmost
protection for any person on Massachusetts soil
whose liberty was called in question under the
laws of the United States."

The history of politics after this crisis is well
known. It is interesting to note that when
Lincoln's nomination was assured, and Andrew,
as a member of the Committee, had been ap-
pointed to inform Lincoln of his nomination,
Andrew "saw in a flash that here was a man
who was master of himself." "For the first
time," he says, "they [the members of the
Committee] understood that Abraham Lincoln,
whom they had supposed to be little more than
a loquacious and clever state politician, had
force, insight, conscience."

"As the campaign for Governor of Massa-
chusetts went on in 1858 to i860, people came
to recognize the two qualities, the cool head and
the warm heart, which were so remarkably
united in John A. Andrew, and to feel that he
could be trusted as their governor." On the
5th of January, 1861, the Legislature met in
convention. The inauguration took place in
due form, and Andrew read his address.

One of Andrew's first cares, when John M.
Forbes appeared as his counsellor, was the selec-

FOREWORD xiii

tion of four aides to constitute his personal
staff, — Horace Binney Sargent, Henry Lee, Jr.,
Harrison Ritchie, and John M. Wetherell of
Worcester.

Meantime a Southern Convention, at which
eight States were represented, had met at
Vicksburg and had passed resolutions in favor
of reopening the slave trade. In October came
John Brown's raid at Harper's Ferry and the
hanging of Brown and his associates. On April
1 2th the seceders opened fire on Fort Sumter;
April 15th the President called out seventy-five
thousand troops; April 19th the Massachusetts
Sixth was fired upon on its way South, and
Massachusetts men lay dead in Baltimore.

One of the Governor's Staif, Henry Lee, Jr.,
writing in later years, notes: "At Fort Win-
throp there were no guns; Fort Independence
twenty guns &c. At last, after six weeks
of sickening suspense, on the 15th of April,
came the appalling summons for twenty com-
panies of Infantry; early on Friday four regi-
ments reported in a driving storm of sleet and
rain; from that hour till the dawn of Sunday,
April 2 1 St, we all had to work night and day
as armorers." "Behind every great movement
stands the man. The whole community, from
that time forth, owned Governor Andrew for
their leader."

xiv FOREWORD

Colonel Henry Lee, in his personal reminis-
cences of Governor Andrew, from January,
1861, till November, 1867, wrote: "Governor
Andrew was one of the very few who saw
clearly through this day's business." "The
grave closes over most men as the waves close
over the wake of a passing ship. The places
that have known them know them no more,
but Governor Andrew has been and will con-
tinue to be sadly missed." "He leaves what is
better than great riches, a name which will
never be spoken save with admiration, gratitude
and honor."

Such was the Governor who commissioned
these young men.

We shall read from the following brief ex-
tracts, mainly drawn from biographies written
half a century ago, that some of these men
risked their lives first of all to save the Union,
while others had the freedom of the slaves most
at heart. We can never make good the work
which together they and the rest made possible
for later generations to carry into effect, unless,
side by side with our other civic and patriotic
duties, we open the way to the colored people
to become not only good soldiers but also good
citizens, by removing, one by one, the barriers
which have deliberately been made to block
their efforts in many directions, in the North

FOREWORD XV

as well as in the South. The colored race, to
which the war of i86i brought freedom from
slavery, is the only race against which a whole-
sale discrimination, both legal and illegal, is
still practised. This occurs regardless of the
fact that many thousands of the colored people
have achieved success not only in the ministry
and in the army, but also in the arts and
sciences, in medicine, law, and literature, as,
for instance, our highly valued head-master of
a large public school, our student who was
elected into the Phi Beta Kappa a year before
graduating with honors from Radcliife College
and is now a successful teacher.

Graduates of Harvard, Yale, Fisk, Atlanta,
and other universities, as well as of Hampton
and Tuskegee, and other industrial schools, are
taking part in the world's work and passing the
requirements for civil service in government
departments, making good records in many
other directions also.

This wholesale race-discrimination is as short-
sighted as it is cowardly. To deprive a weaker
race of almost vital opportunities is essentially
a cowardly performance. It has well been said,
"Perhaps the most important single factor in
the development of the South is its negro labor;
it is more to it, if viewed aright, than its gold,
iron, and coal mines; if properly treated and

xvi FOREWORD

trained it will mean wealth and greatness to
that section." To quote from a conservative
paper, the Washington Post, published thirty-
five years after their emancipation from slavery:
'*We hold, as between the ignorant of the two
races, the negro is preferable. . . . The negroes
are conservative, they are good citizens, they
do not consort with anarchists, they cannot be
made the tools and agents of incendiaries; they
constitute the solid, worthy, estimable yeo-
manry of the South."

After the recent race riot in Chicago the
statement was quoted from some of the white
aggressors that it was not so much because of
their color as because most of them were not
union men that the colored men were mal-
treated. Meantime many of the labor unions
are now opening their doors to colored workmen.

These facts in themselves give proof that our
heroes of 1861 did not give their lives in vain
when, in preventing the extension of slavery
into the territories, they set free that ^'stolen
race" and made them American citizens, with
the rights and mutual obligations pertaining
to citizenship in our free nation.

Elizabeth C. Putnam,

104 Marlborough Street,

Boston, Aiassachusetts.

.;>^";-: <-vxi,>/j0^iw.'x<.ti i i

CHARLES RUSSELL LOWELL

CHARLES RUSSELL LOWELL

Captain of Cavalry, May 14, 1861. Colonel
of Second Massachusetts Cavalry, April 15,
1863. Died at Middletown, Virginia, October
20, 1864, of wounds received at Cedar Creek
on October 19th.

Charles Russell Lowell, Jr., was born in
Boston, January 2, 1835. When only thirteen
years of age he went from the Boston Latin
School into the English High School; in 1850
entered Harvard College, took first rank in
scholarship and maintained it until he gradu-
ated in 1854. He did not win popularity at
first, but later was proudly acknowledged as the
foremost man in the class. He threw himself
with glad and vigorous activity into the current
of college life, a leader in its sports and exercises
and its public affairs. He chose for his valedic-
tory oration, ''The Reverence due from Old
Men to Young."

As a workman he entered the iron mill of the
Ames Company at Chicopee for a year, often
meeting with his fellow-workers to talk on
branches of science connected with their work.
In 1856 he had accepted a position of great trust
and great promise in the rolling-mill of the

2 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6 1

Trenton Iron Company, when there came upon
him the great trial of his life, the growing shadow
of disease, and he was directed to give up all
work and try travel in another climate. A
great fabric of noble ambition fell before this
word. In February, 1856, Lowell sailed from
New Orleans to Gibraltar. Even the Arabs
admired his equestrian skill; at Algiers he took
lessons in the use of the sword, and studied the
movements of the French troops as he already
had studied the Austrian military system in
Italy. When he returned in 1858 he was em-
ployed as treasurer on the B. & I. R.R. His
health became gradually established, and in
i860 he was placed in charge of iron works in
Cumberland, Maryland, at the head of a small
city of workmen, and once again his chosen
work seemed to lie before him.

Meantime the great election of i860 was
approaching. Lowell had for years been a
decided enemy to slavery. Edward W. Emer-
son relates that when Anthony Burns was held
for trial in Boston as a fugitive slave, Charles
Lowell with another spirited boy had vainly
tried to get speech with the United States Judge
who was to give the doom; the two boys had
looked on when, on Friday, June 2, 1854,
Burns was led under guard down State Street to
be taken back to bondage, and one of them

CHARLES RUSSELL LOWELL 3

said, "Charley, it will come to us to set this
straight." The boy who spoke those words
was Henry Lee Higginson.

For five months of the year i860 Lowell
had remained at Mount Savage, except for a
business trip to New Orleans, and had found
himself brought into more positive relations
than ever before with political affairs. On
April 20, 1 861, on hearing of the attack upon
the Massachusetts Sixth, and of its men lying
dead in Baltimore, Lowell instantly gave up
his position at Mount Savage and set off for
Washington to apply for a commission of
Second Lieutenant of Artillery in the Regular
Army. We have heard that when he applied
to Secretary of War Cameron for a commission,
Mr. Cameron, struck by his youthful appear-
ance, said: "You, young man, what do you
know of a horse ? " Charles answered, " Enough
to take a hard day's work out of him and to
bring him back fresh at night." It is certain
that answer gave him a captaincy instead of a
lieutenancy which he had asked for, either owing
to the impression made on Cameron or to his
services in another capacity. In his applica-
tion to Mr. Sumner for a commission he an-
swered the question as to his qualifications as
follows: "I speak and write English, French,
Italian, German, and Spanish, and know enough

4 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6 1

of mathematics to put me at the head of my
class in Harvard, though now I need a little
rubbing up; and am tolerably proficient with
the small sword and the single stick; can ride
a horse as far and bring him in as fresh as any
other man. I am twenty-six years of age and
I believe I possess more or less of moral courage
about taking responsibility, which seems at
present to be found only in Southern officers.
If you have no appointment yet, perhaps you
will have one from Iowa or from Maryland.
I have been living in the latter State for a little
over six months in charge of a rolling mill at
Mount Savage. I heard of the trouble at Bal-
timore and of the action of Governor Hicks on
Saturday; at once gave up my place and started
for Washington and was fortunate to get
through here yesterday with several detentions.
Whether the Union stands or falls, I believe the
profession of arms will henceforth be more de-
sirable and m.ore respected than it has been
hitherto. I believe that with a week or two of
preparation I could pass the examinations."
Mr. Sumner sent in this letter thus endorsed by
Mr. Forbes: "Lowell is a trump, full of brain,
and quick-witted. I want him in various places
and he is a valuable man for anybody. Grad-
uated first in his class at Harvard." From this
time Charles was happy; he had found all he

CHARLES RUSSELL LOWELL

CHARLES RUSSELL LOWELL 5

asked, an object worthy of his efforts. The
vague desire to do something for his fellow-men
became a settled resolve to do all he could,
whether much or little, for his country. His
strong human feeling was concentrated on a
definite task.

After some important government work,
Lowell received (May 14, 1861) his commission
as Captain in the Third (afterward numbered
Sixth) Regiment of United States Cavalry,
drilling, making himself a master of cavalry
tactics and military science, so that he was
honored with the command of a squadron.

For distinguished services at Williamsburg
and Slatersville he was nominated for the
brevet of Major in the battles on June 27th,
and the following week cost him the life of his
tenderly loved brother James, who was wounded
at Glendale June 30th, and died July 4th.

On July 10, 1862, Captain Lowell was de-
tailed for duty as an aide to General McClellan,
winning his esteem for efficient conduct at the
second battle of Malvern Hill, August 5th,
and in the arduous Maryland Campaign. At
Antietam, September 17th, carrying orders to
General Sedgwick's division he met it re-
treating in confusion under a hot fire. Lowell
rode rapidly, driving back and rallying the
men, so that whole companies started forward

6 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6 1

with alacrity at his word, and the rout was
checked. "He seemed a part of his horse and
instinct with a perfect animal life. At the same
time his eyes glistened and his face actually
shone with the spirit and intelligence of which
he was the embodiment." General McClellan
gave Lowell the office of presenting to the Presi-
dent the trophies of this campaign.

In November he was ordered to report to
Governor Andrew for the purpose of organizing
the Second Massachusetts Cavalry of which he
was appointed Colonel.

During this winter of 1862-63 the first regi-
ment of negroes raised in the North was pro-
jected in Massachusetts. Lowell aided in every
way, and was heartily pleased by the selection
of Colonel Shaw to take charge.

In May, Lowell left Boston with his regiment,
and was placed in command of the Cavalry
Department of Washington, for many months
resisting the incursions of General Mosby, who
wrote of him that "of all the Federal com-
manders opposed to me, I had the highest re-
spect for Colonel Lowell both as an officer and
a gentleman."

In July came the battle of Fort Wagner.
Lowell wrote of Robert G. Shaw's death:
"The manliness and high courage of such a
man never die with him. They live in his

CHARLES RUSSELL LOWELL

comrades." "August I, '63. Everything that
comes about Rob shows his death to have been
more and more completely that which every
soldier and every man would long to die; but
it is given to very few, for very few did their
duty as Rob did. I am thankful they buried
him with his 'Niggers.' They were brave men
and they were his men."

Colonel Lowell married, October 31, 1863,
Josephine, daughter of Francis G. Shaw, Esq.,
of Staten Island, New York, and Mrs. Lowell
was able to go with her husband to the army for
several months while there was a season of great
tranquillity.

On July 14, 1864, on a reconnaissance against
General Early's demonstration against Wash-
ington, a little beyond Rockville, the advance
column was suddenly overwhelmed by a greatly
superior force of the enemy and took up a
rapid retreat; the flying battalion of the enemy
came charging down upon Lowell, who had not
even time to turn his men; there was a violent
collision, and then the whole brigade went
whirling in mad confusion toward Washington,
the enemy at their heels. Lowell shouted,
'^Dismount!'''' Seizing their carbines the men
sprang from their saddles at the word of their
dauntless commander. In another minute they
were in line. On came the assailants, but such

8 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6 1

a deadly volley was poured into their ranks
that both horses and riders recoiled. Lowell
saw the enemy waver, advanced and turned the
fortune of the day. With his little force, just
now routed and in full retreat, but unable,
even in a moment of panic, to forget its dis-
cipline, he held his ground before two brigades
of the enemy's best cavalry.

July 26th Colonel Lowell was put in com-
mand of a new provisional brigade.

On the 6th of August, General Sheridan took
command of the Army of the Shenandoah, on
the loth moved up the Valley from Harper's
Ferry, the Provisional Brigade (under Colonel
Lowell) taking the outside position. The next
day Lowell overtook the rear guard of the
enemy, and after a sharp skirmish, drove it
pell-mell through Winchester, and for two weeks
Lowell's Brigade was fighting every day. On
August 26 he led an attack on the advance of
the enemy. Charging up to a rail fence, too
high to leap, behind which was the enemy,
Lowell actually whacked their muskets with
his sabre; tearing down the fence, over they
went; nothing could resist them. The Second
Massachusetts captured seventy-four men, a
lieutenant-colonel, three captains, and several
lieutenants. This was the first time that Low-
ell's men ever really measured him. "Such a

CHARLES RUSSELL LOWELL 9

noble scorn of death and danger they never
saw before, and it inspired them with a courage
that quailed at nothing." On September 3d
the army was again in motion; and on the 8th
Colonel Lowell was appointed to the command
of the "Reserve Brigade," three regiments of
regular cavalry, one of artillery, and his own
volunteer regiment. Lowell had been utterly
unknown to Sheridan at the beginning of the
campaign.

In the superb charge at Winchester, Septem-
ber 19th, at one moment Lowell found himself
with one captain and four men face to face with
a rebel gun. The piece was discharged, killing
both the horses, and tearing off the captain's
arm. The Colonel quickly mounted the first
horse that came up, and the gun was his. Thir-
teen horses in all were shot under him in as
many days.

On September 5th Colonel Lowell wrote to
his wife: "I like Sheridan immensely. . . . He
works like a mill-owner or an iron-master."

September 8: "The Second Massachusetts is
transferred to the Reserve Brigade. . . . The
change looks like making the Second Massachu-
setts a permanent member of the Army of the
Potomac, or that portion of it which is here."

(To a disabled officer) September 10: "I hope
that you are going to live like a plain republi-

lO MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6l

can, mindful of the beauty and the duty of
simplicity. Don't seek office, but don't dis-
remember that the 'useful citizen' always holds
his time, his trouble, his money, and his life
ready at the hint of his country."

September 27: "We are about one mile be-
yond Stanton, facing toward the Blue Ridge.
We have found out pretty well where the Rebs
are."

October 5: "I do wish this war was over. . . .
Never mind. I'm doing all I can to end it.
Good-bye."

(To his mother) October 17th: "There is
nothing to tell here. We are in a glorious coun-
try, . . . kept very active, and have done a good
deal of good work. I have done my share, I
think, but there is nothing to make a letter of."

On October 15th General Sheridan had left
the army, then strongly intrenched near Cedar
Creek, for the purpose of visiting other points
in the Valley. On the 19th, in the dawn of
day, the enemy succeeded in accomplishing a
surprise; the whole of our line, suddenly ex-
posed to deadly fire from the rear, was driven
and rushed headlong down the Valley, and at
midday Sheridan came galloping from Win-
chester and turned ruin into victory.

Meantime, late in the evening of the i8th
Lowell had orders to make a reconnaissance.

CPL\RLES RUSSELL LOWELL 1 1

Reveille at 4: at 4.30 his brigade was in motion
and had saved the right wing from the disaster
which befell the other end of the line. A dis-
tinguished general wrote: ''They moved past
me, that splendid cavalry. Lowell got by me
before I could speak, but I looked after him a
long distance. Exquisitely mounted, the pict-
ure of a soldier, erect, confident, defiant, he
moved at the head of the finest brigade of cav-
alry that at this day scorns the earth it treads."
Striking the turnpike just north of Middletown,
which was already occupied by the enemy,
Lowell established a position at the extreme
left against great superiority of numbers till the
final advance, when he received his mortal
wound. He attended in person to the disposal
of his men, a conspicuous mark for the sharp-
shooters on the roofs of the village. His horse
was shot under him early in the day. At one
o'clock he was struck by a spent ball which
deprived him of voice and strength. For one
and one-half hours he lay on the ground under
temporary shelter. Presently at three o'clock
came the order for the general advance, which
was to give us victory. "I feel well, now," he
said, though too weak to mount his saddle with-
out assistance. He sat his horse, firm and
erect as ever; the color had come back to his
cheeks, but he could not speak above a whisper.

12 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6l

He gave his orders through one of his staff, and
his brigade was, as usual, the first ready. Just
as they were in the thickest of the fire from the
town, a cry arose, ''The Colonel is hit!" He
fell from his horse into the arms of his aides
and was carried forward in the track of his
rapidly advancing brigade to a house within the
village. He gave no sign of suffering; his mind
was perfectly clear, calm and cheerful, though
he knew he had no chance of life. He dictated
private messages of affection, gave complete
directions to his command, and as the day rose
he ceased to breathe the air of earth.

HENRY LEE HIGGINSON

HENRY LEE HIGGINSON 13

HENRY LEE HIGGINSON

Born in New York, November 18, 1834.
First Lieutenant in the Second Massachusetts
Volunteer Infantry, July 8, 1861. Captain in
the First Massachusetts Volunteer Cavalry,
October 31, 1861. Major in the First Massa-
chusetts Volunteer Cavalry, March 28, 1862.
Wounded at Aldie, Virginia, June, 1863. Died
in Boston, November 14, 1919.

Henry Lee Higginson, the descendant of an
old Massachusetts family, was born in New
York, November 18, 1834. He went to Har-
vard College in 1851, with the class to which
Phillips Brooks and Alexander Agassiz belonged,
but left there in his Freshman year on account
of trouble with his eyes. Afterwards he en-
tered a counting-house, and in 1856 he went to
Europe. There he travelled for a year, joined
for a time by his friend Charles Russell Lowell,
and later spent several years in Vienna, devoting
himself to the study of music. He had hoped
to become enough of a musician to make play-
ing the pleasure and resource of his leisure hours,
but an injury to his arm, followed by too much
practising, made this impossible, and confined
his studies to singing and the theory of music.

14 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6 1

While he was thus studying and hearing
music, his appreciation of the part it might
play in the life of the community grew, and
the longing to bring the best orchestral music
to his native land became a definite ideal in
his mind.

At this time, in his early twenties, he was full
of the generous ardor that characterized his
later years. He was a warm-hearted and de-
voted friend, a believer in the great future of
his country and full of an eager determination
to do all he could for her, a lover of the arts,
and a would-be servant of humanity. From
the first he wanted to help others; he was ready
to have faith in them, and to take them into his
affections. His sympathy with the young kept
him always young, and his readiness to fight
the wrong was as strong in his last as in his early
years. He was far-sighted, too, and among the
first in this country to rouse the young men to
prepare to take their part in the recent Euro-
pean War.

Now that his career is over, it is wonderful
to look back to its beginning and see how his
resolutions were carried out, for he was one of
the lovers of the truth of whom Lowell wrote : —

"Those love her best who to themselves are true,
And what they dare to dream of, dare to do."

HENRY LEE HIGGINSON 1 5

Drawn by a strong sense of patriotism he
came home from Europe in i860. His country
was on the eve of civil war. He volunteered in
what came to be the Second Massachusetts
Regiment under Colonel Gordon. The very
day that Fort Sumter was fired on, Colonel
Gordon tendered his services to the Govern-
ment and State through Governor Andrew, and
Henry Higginson within a few weeks was drill-
ing under Gordon at Brook Farm in West Rox-
bury. He was made a second lieutenant, then
full lieutenant, and went from there July 8,
1 86 1. On October 31st he was transferred to
the First Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer
Cavalry with the commission of captain, and on
March 28, 1862, he was commissioned a major.
To quote his own words: "I went out in the
Second Infantry; later was put into the First
Cavalry, Massachusetts; served at Port Royal,
and then came North and served in Virginia
until June, 1863, when I was wounded at Aldie,
Virginia, was sent home, invalided for nearly a
year; then was on General Barlow's staff for a
short time, but had not recovered enough to
bear the work, so left."

Colonel Henry Lee wrote of him: ''One of
my four nephews, Henry Higginson, Major of
Cavalry, is just off his bed, having recovered
from two sabre cuts on his head; and had a ball

1 6 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6 1

extricated from his back-bone which the rebels
fired at him as he lay on the ground." He bore
all his life the scar of the sabre cut across his
cheek.

On December 5, 1863, he married Ida, daugh-
ter of Louis Agassiz.

In 1868 he entered the firm of Lee, Higginson
& Co. of Boston. Years of hard work and de-
votion to business and civic interests followed,
during which he held steadfastly to the dream
of his early days, that of establishing a really
fine orchestra. This hope he realized in 1881;
and for all the years after that, until the dark
shadow of the great war in Europe eclipsed for
a season the light and joy of the Symphony con-
certs, he put his heart, and a great part of the
wealth his days of toil had gathered, into the
support of the orchestra. His wisdom and un-
tiring patience collected skilled musicians from
all parts of the world and gave to Boston con-
certs of unsurpassed beauty. It was a great
satisfaction to him in his last year to know that
the Symphony Orchestra he had built up and
sustained for thirty-seven years was to go on
under the direction of his friends.

Major Higginson had a genius for friendship.
He loved his friends and he believed in good
fellowship; and besides the music he gave to
the public are his two great monuments to

HENRY LEE HIGGINSON 17

friendship. The first of these is Soldier's Field,
given to Harvard College in 1890, to be used as
a playground for its students, and dedicated
"To the Happy Memory" of six of his "Friends,
Comrades and Kinsmen who died for their
Country" in the Civil War. The second is
the Harvard Union, a building given by him to
Harvard in 1901, "a house open to all Harvard
men without restriction and in which they all
stand equal, a house bearing no name forever
except that of our University. . . . May it be
used for the general good and may private ends
never be sought here! ... In these halls may
you, young men, see visions and dream dreams,
and may you keep steadily burning the fire of
high ideals, enthusiasm and hope, otherwise you
cannot share in the great work and glory of our
new century. . . . Let Memorial Hall stand a
temple consecrated to the spirit of large patriot-
ism and of true democracy. Let this house stand
a temple to the same spirit and to friendship."

These gifts were the least of the services Mr.
Higginson rendered to his college. For twenty-
six years he was a Fellow of the Corporation,
and, as noted by President Eliot, attended its
meetings "with the utmost punctuality, assid-
uity and devotion, and with the highest intelli-
gence." He always looked upon it as a privi-
lege to do so.

1 8 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6 1

The knowledge that he felt it to be a privilege
to help all good causes made it easy for people
to turn to him constantly for aid and inspira-
tion, and made it a matter of course that the
flags of the city should be at half-mast when it
was known that he had gone from us, who had
so often been affectionately called "Our First
Citizen." m.c.p.

STEPHEN GEORGE PERKINS

STEPHEN GEORGE PERKINS 1 9

STEPHEN GEORGE PERKINS

Born in Boston, September 18, 1835. Killed
at Cedar Mountain, Virginia, August 9, 1862.
Second Lieutenant, Second M.V.M. Infantry,
July 8, 1861. First Lieutenant, Second M.V.M.
Infantry, July 11, 1861.

"Stephen Perkins's friends were among the
most gifted young men of the day." "He was
beloved by all who came into contact with him
and becoming constantly a finer and finer type
of noble and intelligent boyhood." He entered
Harvard College in 1855, but on account of
his eyes joined the class of '56; he spent a year
in the Law School, and graduated from the
Scientific School in mathematics in 1861. At
the Harvard College Regatta at Springfield,
'55, Perkins was one of the picked crew of the
Harvard four-oar, composed of John and Lang-
don Erving, Alexander Agassiz, and Stephen
Perkins, three of whom, including Stephen,
were over six feet in height.

Stephen Perkins's peculiar charm lay in a
sensation of tranquil strength, of indefinite
resources, of reserved power, "effecting by a
single quiet word or look what others had

20 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6 1

toiled and stormed in vain to accomplish."
One of his relatives had remarked to him
rather heedlessly at the outbreak of the war
that the war was not likely to come home to
their two lives, for instance, in any immediate
way. He answered with an unwonted serious-
ness that was almost sternness, "I do not know
that it will make any difference in your life,
but it is likely to make a very great difference
to mine." The war came. In a few days
he had enlisted and was engaged in the most
tedious service in the Army of the Potomac.
The disastrous battle of Cedar Mountain took
place August 9, 1862. Robert G. Shaw wrote,
"All our officers behaved nobly." There Per-
kins fell, pierced by three bullets.

A brother officer, Major Henry L. Higginson,
wrote of him, reviewing that short life in the
days before the war: "Stephen might never
have done anything tangible, but he would
always have elevated his friends and associates
in purpose and in tone, and thus indirectly have
accomplished much. Men of his kind will be
more necessary after than before the war. I've
seen men enough, the world over, but never
one of his kind, and very, very few equal to
him. When I remember his handsome face
with such warm blue eyes, and such a beautiful
smile, his voice and jolly laugh, his honesty and

STEPHEN GEORGE PERKINS 21

purity of mind and soul, his wonderful insight
of men and things, beyond all his wonderfully
warm feelings for his real friends, so very
marked, it seems to me that a big piece of life
was snatched away."

Charles Francis Adams in his autobiography
wrote of Stephen Perkins, "Stephen was per-
haps the closest of my friends. The choicest
mind I ever knew. He was manly, simple, re-
fined and he had withal fine perceptions and a
delicate humor. . . . He loved to talk but in a
quiet, observant and reflective way. He was
mature and self-respecting, one who thought
much; one who looked quite through the acts
of men. When I heard of his death I felt that
I had lost something that could never be re-
placed."

22 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6 1

JAMES SAVAGE, Jr.

Born in Boston, April 2i, 1832. Captain,
Second M.V. Infantry, May 24, 1861. Major,
June 23, 1862. Lieutenant-Colonel, September
17, 1862. Died at Charlottesville, Virginia,
October 22, 1862, of wounds received at Cedar
Mountain, August 9, 1862.

As a boy his love of outdoor play was inex-
haustible. One of his comrades says, *'His side
at football would win if he could make it, for
in rush or race it took a good player to compete
with him; and yet withal he was such a gentle
and noble fellow that everybody loved him and
felt he would never do a mean thing; all he
w^anted was fair play." His love of nature, of
music and other arts made his trip to Europe
in 1854 a keen joy to him.

Becoming interested in conditions in our
Southern States, Savage in 1859 gave himself
heart and soul to do all in his power toward the
freedom of the slaves. In the spring of 1861,
when it had become clear that war was the only
alternative, he joined the Salignac Drill Club
and was the first member of that Club to apply
for a commission in Gordon's Regiment. With

JAMES SAVAGE, Jr.

JAMES SAVAGE, Jr. 23

his friends Wilder Dwight and Greeley S. Curtis
a plan had been formed to organize a regiment
of infantry and offer it to the United States.
Two graduates of West Point, Messrs. Gordon
and Andrew, were induced to take the highest
appointments, and the Second M.V.M. Regi-
ment was thus formed. Major Henry L. Hig-
ginson, in his address at the giving of the Sol-
dier's Field to Harvard College, said: "We two
fellows [James Savage and Henry Higginson]
went to Fitchburg, just after war was declared,
to recruit a company for the Second Massachu-
setts Infantry, and when our regiment was
ready to march, the colors were entrusted to
us. This recruiting was strange work to us all,
and the men who came to our little recruiting-
office asked many new questions, which I did
my best to answer; but often these recruits
would turn to the 'captain' as they called him,
listen to his replies, and then swear allegiance,
as it were, to him. He, the quietest and most
modest of men, was immensely impressive, for
he was a real knight — just and gentle to all
friends, defiant to the enemies of his country
and to all wrong-doers."

James Savage had steadily declined promo-
tion which would remove him from the Second
Regiment, unless for a colored regiment. When
the raising of such a regiment was discussed

24 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6 1

and Major Copeland and Lieutenant Shaw ap-
pealed to him, "Now, Jim, we want you to go
with us, will you?" Jim was lying down, rest-
ing on his elbow; he instantly sprang up. " Yes,
I'll go with you if only as a sergeant," and no
one was more disappointed at the failure of the
plan at that time than he.

The following letter merits insertion as indi-
cating his feeling on the same general subject.
From it the following extracts are quoted: —

March 30, 1862, about four miles south of
Strasburg, Virginia, approaching the Shenan-
doah range, waiting for the mending of a broken
bridge, *'the contrabands flocked to see the
^sogers' and told us what they had learned
from their masters about us Yankees; that if
the Yankees got hold of them they would cut
their right hands and feet off; that their mas-
ters had won all the battles and whipped us
terribly; how they thought 'old Mr. Brown'
must have had hundreds of men with him; how
all the blacks about here knew he was their
friend and the terror of their white rulers. One
man almost as white as I, the son of his master
and the father of nine children, two of whom
he had with him, had interested me very much;
looked like Neapolitans, perhaps a little fairer.
His gratitude to God when he told us how his
wife and children had been left to him when so

JAMES SAVAGE, Jr. 2$

many of his neighbors told him of having lost
theirs by having them sold, was very touching.
We talked with him and his two dear little boys
for nearly two hours, and that was my Sunday
sermon."

On June 13, 1862, James Savage was pro-
moted to be Major, on September 17th to be
Lieutenant-Colonel. Lieutenant Miller wrote:
"The 9th of August our brigade marched to
about one mile of Cedar Mountain. I was
struck and taken prisoner. The surgeon told
me that Major Savage was also wounded and
a prisoner. The Major was very cheerful
though in considerable pain. Three weeks later
his leg was amputated and he knew that he
could not possibly survive."

Captain Shaw wrote Mr. Savage, August 12,
1862: "After amputation of his leg his mind
seemed to be at peace. The only comfort his
friends had was the assurance that his loved
Harry [Captain Russell] had stayed to cheer
and aid him, though Russell must in conse-
quence become a prisoner."

The last words written by James were from
the hospital on August i8th, to Professor
Rogers: "I am pretty much broken up but sure
of the best treatment. Your friends here leave
nothing to be desired — best love to all, from
your Major."

26 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6 1

And there came from Captain H. S. Russell,
Libby Prison in Richmond, "I was taken when
tying a handkerchief around J. S.'s leg. Write
to his father." After some weeks came a letter
to his father announcing the death of a prisoner
of war.

WILDER DWIGHT

WILDER DWIGHT 27

WILDER DWIGHT

Born April 23, 1833, In Springfield, Mass.
Died September 19, 1862, of wounds received
at Antietam, September 17, 1862. Major,
Second Regiment M.V.M., May 20, 1861.
June 13, 1862, promoted by Governor Andrew
to be Lieutenant-Colonel of the Second Massa-
chusetts.

In boyhood as in manhood he was recognized
as one in whom to place an absolute trust. He
took high rank as a scholar and maintained it
through college, and on leaving the Law School
he received a first prize. Was admitted to the
Bar in 1856, began practice in 1857, and became
partner of Horace Gray, Jr.; but when the war
came ''he gave up to his country, without a
moment's hesitation, all that he had gained
and all that he was." "He suffered not a day
to pass, after the news from Sumter, before
opening a subscription paper to guarantee the
expenses which would be incurred in the enter-
prise." On the 15th of July, 1861, while in
bivouac at Bunker Hill, he wrote: "I have
always had a dream and theory about the vir-
tues that were called out by war. The calling

28 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6 1

needs a whole man and it exacts very much
of him. Self gets thrown into the background."
On August 3d in bivouac on Maryland Heights,
Lieutenant-Colonel Dwight wrote: "If you
could have seen the helplessness in which the
flour ration left us and the stupidity of the
men in its use you would hail as the dawn
the busy frying of doughnuts which goes on
here now." "Our triumphs just now are
chiefly culinary, but 'A soldier's courage lies in
his stomach,' says Frederick the Great, and I
mean that the commissary captains and cooks
shall accept the doctrine and apply its lessons
if I can make them." At times his eagerness
for action would express itself. "Do not spend
your days in regretting this or that life, — lives
whose whole sweetness and value depend upon
their opportunities, not upon their length." As
late as May 9, 1862, the service of the regiment
was still to wait. Lieutenant-Colonel Dwight
writes, "Of course this is a severe trial to me, —
the severest, I think, of my life." Two weeks
later his regiment saw its first action on the
field on the occasion of General Banks's retreat
in May, 1862, after the Battle of Winchester.
General Gordon reported, "Major Dwight while
gallantly bringing up the rear of the regiment
was missed somewhere near the outskirts of the
this brave officer, so cool upon the

WILDER DWIGHT 29

field, so efficient everywhere, so much beloved
in his regiment, and whose gallant services of
the 24th will never be forgotten by them."

While missing and mourned as dead. Major
Dwight, while helping a wounded soldier, had
been taken prisoner, and General Jackson gave
his permission to eight of the Second Massa-
chusetts prisoners to go out as escort for the
burial of their companions.

On June 2d the Major was seen running on
foot toward the regiment. The officers ran to
meet him. More than one lifted him in his
arms. The men ran from their tents toward
the lim.its of the camp. They could not be
restrained; they broke camp and poured down
upon the Major with the wildest enthusiasm.
A little later the regiment was drawn up around
the Major, who was reading to them from a
paper which he held in his hand. He gave
them the names of those of their comrades who
were prisoners in Winchester. He told them
who were wounded, and the nature of their
wounds. He told them of their dead, and of
the burial upon which even the rebels of Win-
chester had looked with respect. Then he said:
"And now, do you want to know what the
rebels think of the Massachusetts Second.^
'Who was it ambuscaded us near Bartonsville.^'
asked a cavalry officer of me. I replied, 'That

30 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6l

was the Massachusetts Second.' An officer of
rebel infantry asked me who it was that was at
the Run near Bartonsville. *That was the Mas-
sachusetts Second,' said I. 'Whose,' asked an-
other officer, 'was the battery so splendidly
served, and the line of sharpshooters behind the
stone wall, who picked off every officer of ours
who showed himself?' 'That was the Massa-
chusetts Second,' said I. On the whole, the
rebels came to the conclusion that they had been
fighting the Massachusetts Second, and they
did not care to do it again in the dark."

The next day he wrote from Washington:
"I am here to see about my exchange, etc. I
am sorry you had so much anxiety about me,
but thankful to be able to relieve it. My re-
ception by the regiment is reward enough. I
must get back to them."

Chaplain Quint said, "You will know how
nobly he commanded his little band of skir-
mishers on Saturday night last; how his small
force was formed against cavalry and infantry
with entire success; how his clear, cool, delib-
erate words of command inspired the men so
that no man faltered, while, in ten minutes, one
company lost one-fourth of its number."

At the battle of Antietam, Colonel Dwight
was mortally wounded. His only regret was
that he could not longer serve the cause. " I have

WILDER DWIGHT 3 1

lived a soldier, I die a soldier, I wish to be
buried as a soldier." He called out, "Who
asked for the Second Regiment? I tell you
where the Second Regiment was yesterday, —
in the foremost front of the battle, fighting like
men; and we drove them, boys, — drove them."
Colonel Andrews had sent him word of our
battle. "It is a glorious time to die!" was his
joyful exclamation.

MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6 1

ROBERT GOULD SHLWV

Private Seventh Xew York \'olunteer Mili-
tia, April 19, 1 861. Second Lieutenant Second
Massachusetts \'olunteers (Infantry), May 28,
1 86 1. First Lieutenant, July 8, 1861. Cap-
tain, August 10, 1862. Colonel Fifty-fourth
^LV. Infantry, April 17, 1863. Killed at Fort
Wagner, South Carolina, July 18, 1863.

Robert Gould Shaw was born in Boston,
October 10, 1837. In 1851 the family went to
Europe, and Robert passed a happy summer in
Switzerland. In November, 1852, he wrote
from Xeuchatel, full of interest in affairs in
France. "Have you seen that book 'Uncle
Tom's Cabin'.'" August 7, 1853: "Have you
heard anything about the new Slave Law in
Illinois .' I think it is much worse than the law
of 1850. Have you read the Key to 'Uncle
Tom's Cabin' ? I've been reading 'Uncle Tom's
Cabin' again, and always like it better than
before. I don't see how one man could do
much against slavery." In 1855: "I read a
long account of the new x\bolition Society of
Xew York and of a slave having been burnt
alive in Alabama. I did not think this last
would ever happen again."

ROBERT GOULD SHAW"

ROBERT GOULD SHAW 33

Robert Shaw reached home in May and en-
tered Harvard in August, 1856. In November,
1 86 1, he cast his first and only vote, for Lincoln
and enlisted as private in the Seventh New
York National Guards, believing there might
be trouble in the country after the inaugura-
tion and he would not be willing to remain in an
office if the country needed soldiers. April 18,

1 86 1, he wrote his father a farewell note and
left in July, Lieutenant in the Massachusetts
Second Regiment, for the seat of war.

Near Culpeper Court House at the Battle of
Cedar Mountain, Shaw was serving as aide on
General Gordon's staflF. He writes, August 12,

1862, near Culpeper Court House: "I was with
General Gordon, who sent me back to get some
artillery through the woods. It was impossible
to do it because the brush was so thick, and
besides I hadn't been gone five minutes before
the enemy got us under a cross fire and our
brigade had to retreat. They advanced so
close to the Second before they gave way that
it was easy to distinguish all their features.
There were 474 enlisted men taken into action
in the Second. Of these 120 were killed and
wounded and 37 missing. They were not under
fire thirty minutes. 22 officers went in and 8
came out. Goodwin, Cary, Choate, and Ste-
phen Perkins were all quite ill but would not

34 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6 1

Stay away from the fight." Early in 1863
Governor Andrew offered Shaw the colonelcy
of a colored regiment to be raised in Alassachu-
setts, being the first recruited under state
authority, though one was already in service in
South Carolina and another in Kansas. In
answer to this his father brought back a letter
to the Governor declining, as "not having abil-
ity for the undertaking," but on February 5th
Robert telegraphed, "Please tell the Governor
that I accept," and he wrote, "There is great
prejudice against it — at any rate I shan't be
frightened out of it by unpopularity." March
25: "The intelligence of the men is a great
surprise to me." March 30: "The mustering
officer who was here to-day is a Virginian, and
he always thought it was a great joke to make
soldiers of 'niggers' but he tells me now that he
has never mustered in so fine a set of men,
though about 20,000 have passed through his
hands since September. The sceptics need
only to come out here to be converted." Just
after this, on May 28, 1863, Colonel Shaw led
his regiment through Pemberton Square and
off to the South. I can see him now, — Colonel
Shaw, — riding with his hat off as he passed the
balcony where Mrs. Mary Lowell Putnam stood,
to greet her and thus to express the thanks of
the Fifty-fourth Regiment for the banner which

ROBERT GOULD SHAW 35

she had presented. This banner bore a gold
cross upon a blue ground with the motto, "In
hoc signo vinces" (By this sign you shall
conquer).

From St. Helena's Island, July 6, Colonel
Shaw wrote, "I want to get my men alongside
of white troops and into a good fight if there is
to be one."

James Island, July 15th: "Two hundred of
my men on picket duty this morning were at-
tacked by five regiments of infantry, some cav-
alry and a battery of artillery. The Tenth
Connecticut was on their left and say they
should have had a hard time if the Fifty-fourth
men had not stood so well." "I have just
come in from the front with my regiment where
we were sent as soon as the rebels retired. This
shows that the events of the morning did not
destroy the General's confidence in us."

Morris Island, July 18: "We are in General
Strong's brigade. We came up here last night
in a very heavy rain. Fort Wagner is being
heavily bombarded. We are not far from it.
We hear nothing but praise for the Fifty-fourth
on all hands." After writing the above (the
last words he ever wrote in this world) he re-
ceived orders to report with his regiment at
General Strong's headquarters, and there he
was offered the post of honor because of the

36 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6 1

greatest danger, the advance in the work as-
signed for that very evening, the assault upon
Fort Wagner. Here then came the opportu-
nity he had waited for; he accepted it without
hesitation. One who was at General Strong's
headquarters writes (Beaufort, S.C., July 22) :
"The troops looked worn and weary; had been
without tents during the pelting rains of the
two previous nights. When they came within
six hundred yards of Fort Wagner they formed
in line of battle, the Colonel heading the first
and the Major the second battalion. With the
Sixth Connecticut and Ninth Maine and others
they remained half an hour. Then the order
for * charge' was given. The regiment marched
at quick, then at double-quick time. When
about one hundred yards from the Fort the
rebel musketry opened with such terrible fire
that for an instant the first battalion hesitated;
but only for an instant, for Colonel Shaw,
springing to the front and waving his sword,
shouted, 'Forward, Fifty-fourth!' and with
another cheer and shout they rushed through
the ditch and gained the parapet on the right.
Colonel Shaw was one of the first to scale the
walls. He stood erect to urge forward his men,
and while shouting for them to press on was
shot dead and fell into the fort," and "now
sleeps there with the brave fellows who were

ROBERT GOULD SHAW 37

with him in his life." A Southern soldier has
since said, "It looked [his face] as calm and
fresh and natural as if he were sleeping." A
stalwart negro man had fallen near him. The
rebels said the man was a color-sergeant. The
brigadier commanding the rebel forces said to
me: "I knew Colonel Shaw before the war and
then esteemed him. Had he been in command
of white troops I should have given him an
honorable burial. As it is, I shall bury him in
the common trench with the negroes that fell
with him."

38 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6l

HENRY STURGIS RUSSELL

Henry Sturgis Russell was born June 21,
1838. Graduated from Harvard College, i860.
In 1 861 joined Fourth Battalion; May 28,
1861, was commissioned First Lieutenant in the
Massachusetts Second Regiment "of Volunteer
Infantry; December 31st, Captain of his first
company; January, 1863, Lieutenant-Colonel
of Second Massachusetts Cavalry; Brigadier-
General of Volunteers, 1865.

On July 21, 1865, Governor Andrew said of
Captain Russell: —

''I know of no incident of more perfect, of
more heroic gentility, bespeaking a noble
nature, than the act performed by one captain
of the Second Massachusetts . . . who, standing
by the side of Lieutenant-Colonel Savage, . . .
who was fatally wounded, and not believed by
the enemy to be worth the saving, [Captain
Russell] refused to surrender until he had wrung
from the enemy the pledge that they would,
in capturing him, save also his comrade and
bear him back to the nearest hospital; declar-
ing that, if they did not, he single-handed and
alone would fight it out, and sell his life at the
dearest cost."

HENRY STURGIS RUSSELL

HENRY STURGIS RUSSELL

39

Not many weeks later, kindly cared for,
Colonel Savage died of his wounds. Captain
Russell was committed to Libby Prison and
remained there till November 15, 1862. In
January, 1863, he was made Lieutenant-Colonel
of the Second Massachusetts Cavalry. On
April 5, 1864, Captain Russell accepted the
colonelcy of the Fifth Massachusetts Cavalry,
a negro regiment. Between Russell and his
cousin, Robert G. Shaw, there had existed a
close friendship. Shaw's death at Fort Wag-
ner had lately occurred; and now Russell, tak-
ing the offered colonelcy, quietly said, "Bob
would have liked to have me do it!"

It was at the head of this regiment, June 15,
1864, before Petersburg, that Colonel Russell
received his first wound, and special commen-
dation from General Grant which led a year
later to his brevet as Brigadier-General of Vol-
unteers, "for distinguished gallantry and good
conduct, and by his extra capacity for the con-
trol of men."

This colored regiment entered Richmond
among the first troops.

On May 6, 1864, Colonel Russell married
Mary H. Forbes. February 14, 1865, he left
the army and soon retired to his "Home Farm"
in Milton, where he passed much of his life.

In 1878 Russell accepted from Mayor Pierce

40 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6 1

the position of Chairman of the Board of Police
Commissioners.

For two years he toiled hard, vigilant by night
and laborious by day, and brought the force
into fine shape. Then he resigned and en-
joyed some long, pleasant years upon his farm
until, January 14, 1895, he was appointed by
Mayor Curtis to be Fire Commissioner of the
City of Boston, and held the position for ten
years. It was long and arduous work to bring
it up to his ideal, but Major Russell left the
Department undoubtedly the best organized
and the most efficient fire department in the
country. With his subalterns he was popular
and even with the rank and file, for, though
very rigid, and a strict disciplinarian, he was
not a martinet. He made short work of dis-
quieting agitations concerning hours and pay,
yet his men, proud of being part of so fine an
organization as he had created, did not audibly
murmur. He was still in office when death
came to him in Boston, February 16, 1905.

Major Henry Lee Higginson, writing of Rus-
sell, May 4, 1919, said: "In reply to your note,
Harry Russell went to the war as First Lieu-
tenant in the Second Volunteer Infantry in
May, 1 86 1. The Regiment had various expe-
riences in Virginia during that summer of '61,
the winter of '62, and so on, held the [ ] of

HENRY STURGIS RUSSELL 41

the army under Banks in his first foolish move
and was driven back — was badly hurt at Cedar
Mountain in the summer of '62, distinguished
itself at Antietam. Harry stopped to look
after James Savage at Cedar Mountain and
was captured and sent to Richmond. By and
by he came back and presently was made
Lieutenant-Colonel in the Second Massachu-
setts Cavalry (after his engagement to Miss
Mary Forbes) and then later was made Colonel
of the Fifth Massachusetts Cavalry (colored).
This regiment entered Richmond among the
first troops. About that time Harry left the
service. He w^as in all respects and every-
where an excellent officer, greatly liked and
admired by everybody; he was wounded, but
just where I have forgotten. He was really a
great favorite among his mates and deserved
it "

42 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6l

JAMES JACKSOX HIGGINSON

Born in the city of New York, June 19, 1S36.
Died in New York City, January 5, 191 1.
Second Lieutenant First Massachusetts Cav-
alry, January 6, 1863. First Lieutenant First
Massachusetts Cavalry, January 4, 1864. Cap-
tain September i, 1864. Brevet Major U.S.
\'olunteers, April 9, 1865. Li the Army of the
Potomac to the end of the war. He resigned
May 27, 1865. (Original Companion of the
Military Order of the Loyal Legion.)

James Jackson Higginson had been fitted in
the Boston Latin School for his entrance to
Harvard College from which he was graduated
with honor in 1857. After studying law in
Europe he returned to the L'nited States in
1862; served for a few weeks as an agent for
the Sanitary Commission in Washington; was
commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Mas-
sachusetts \'olunteer Cavalry and was rapidly
promoted, attaining the rank of major in April,
1865, "for gallant and meritorious services re-
sulting in the fall of Richmond, and the sur-
render of the insurgent army under General
R. E. Lee," and serving in the Army of the
Potomac to the end of the war.

JAMES JACKSOX HIGGIXSOX

JAMES JACKSON HIGGINSON 43

James Higginson had taken part in the Battle
of Aldie Creek in the Gettysburg Campaign,
was made a prisoner and confined in Libby
Prison, Richmond, for nine months until March,
1864, when released by exchange. He rejoined
his regiment before Petersburg and shortly after
was detached for special duty at the headquar-
ters of General Meade, with whom he served
through the subsequent movements and battles
of the Army of the Potomac up to and includ-
ing the surrender of General Lee in April, 1865.

In 1867 he came to New York City, where for
twenty-five years he was a member of the stock-
brokerage firm of Chase & Higginson. Mr.
Chase had been his companion in Libby Prison
with whom he had shared his blanket, when he
had one.

On November 11, 1869, Mr. Higginson mar-
ried Margaret Bethune, daughter of Archibald
and Elizabeth Bethune Gracie.

James Higginson's service to his country did
not end with the war. Like his brother Henry,
everything that had to do with the welfare of
his fellow-citizens was dear to his heart, and
claimed his thought, time, and means.

"During his active business life and after his
retirement from business he gave a large part
of his time to public service. He was one of
the early members of the Council of the Char-

44 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6 1

ity Organization Society; he was one of the
trustees of the House of Refuge; for many
years he served as president of the New York
Eye and Ear Infirmary; and from 1902 to 1905
was a member of the Board of Education."
His love of Harvard College was always a strong
interest in his life, and he joined the Harvard
Club in 1876, giving to it much time and devo-
tion, and finally becoming its president, which
office he held at the time of his death.

He was a warm and faithful friend, and was
widely mourned as a man of generous and just
spirit, of strong and manly character.

JAMES JACKSON LOWELL

JAMES JACKSON LOWELL 45

JAMES JACKSON LOWELL

Born October 15, 1837, in Cambridge, Mass.
Died July 4, 1862, at Nelson's Farm near Rich-
mond, Virginia.

James Jackson Lowell passed from the Boston
Latin School to Harvard College in 1854, grad-
uating in 1858 as first scholar in his class. While
he would walk a dozen miles for wild flowers,
skate all day and dance as long as the band
would play, he found no study too dry. " He
was full of life, enjoyed keenly, pursued eagerly
and crowded every hour with work or pleasure."
In i860 Lowell entered the Law School. Mean-
time the war began. On July 10, 1861, J. J.
Lowell and his cousin William Lowell Putnam
received their commissions as first and second
lieutenants in the Twentieth M.V.M., and
after a few days at Washington the regiment
was ordered to Poolesville, Maryland, where it
lay in camp till October 20th. On October
2 1st was fought the Battle of Ball's Bluff.
Lowell was shot in the thigh. Captain Schmitt
badly wounded, and Putnam killed. Our only
consolation was the gallant behavior of our
troops in a desperate situation. Lowell re-

46 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6 1

luctantly went home, and while recovering,
some of his classmates presented him with a
sword to replace the one lost in the confusion
at Ball's Bluff. In February he rejoined his
regiment. On March nth the Twentieth left
the camp at Poolesville and was transferred to
the Peninsula, reached Yorktown April 8th and
remained there until the 4th of May. Lowell
wrote on the 25th regretting that he was not
in the advance with his brother: —

"The severe fighting at Fair Oaks occurred
on May 31st and the ist of June, at Yorktown
we were held as a reserve, at Fair Oaks we had
a foretaste of what is coming before the forts of
Richmond. On Saturday, on being ordered
forward, we advanced through an interminable
swamp and across the Chickahominy . . . and
came up into the field of battle. ... As we had
been fairly on the run the companies were more
or less broken and I supposed that some of my
weaker and doubtful men had fallen out on the
way. Much to my delight I found that every
man was there, even in this place of compara-
tive rest. Three a.m. always finds us in line
of battle." Lowell remained near Fair Oaks
until the 8th of June. "June 27: still in camp
but a brisk cannonading is going on." On the
29th joined in the retreat across the Peninsula.
Lowell led his company until the afternoon of

JAMES JACKSOX LOWELL 47

the 30th, when he received a mortal wound in
the fight at Glendale. He desired that his
father might be told that he was struck while
dressing the line of his men. Two of our sur-
geons who had been left with the wounded at
the farm were much impressed by his behavior,
and one of them told the rebel officer to talk
with him if he wished to know how a Northern
soldier thought and felt. He lingered four days
and died on July 4th. Lowell was among the
earliest of the Harvard soldiers to fall by the
hand of the enemy. While the soul of this noble
young soldier was passing slowly away, his
sister, a volunteer nurse, was at Harrison's Bar,
only a few miles away, and tried every expedi-
ent to get to him. The serenity with which he
received the summons of death came from
neither bland enthusiasm nor from apathy.
No one could be less indifferent to the grief it
would cause at home. It was to the three
nephews that Mr. James Russell Lowell re-
ferred in a poem to R. G. Shaw: —

"I write of one while with dim eyes I think of three,
Who weep not others fair and brave as he?

Ah I When the fight is won . . ."

The formal letter in which Lowell acknowl-
edged the gift of the sword contains a passage
which serves to illustrate the spirit with which

48 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6 1

our soldiers went to the war: "When the Class
meets in years to come, and honors its states-
men and judges, its divines and doctors, let
also the score who went to fight for their coun-
try be remembered and let not those who never
returned be forgotten, — those who died for the
cause of civilization and law, and the self-
restrained freedom which is their result."

A friend wrote his mother: —

"Don't you think that Jim's dying has ac-
complished as much as his life may have done?
I never knew how much I relied upon Jim, —
not so much for his friendship, which I think
I prized above that of all others, but for his
almost startHng simplicity and correctness of
judgment in all matters we talked about."

WILLIAM LOWELL PUTNAM

WILLIAM LOWELL PUTNAM 49

WILLIAM LOWELL PUTNAM

Born in Boston, Mass., July 9, 1840. Died
October 22, 1861. July 21, 1861, Second Lieu-
tenant in Tv/entieth Regiment, M.V.M. Fell
mortally wounded at Ball's Bluif, October 21,
1861.

William Lowell Putnam was born in Boston,
July 9, 1840. He was the youngest of our
group of cousins who used to shout Scott's
rousing verses as we played Highlanders and
Lowlanders among the wooded rocks behind
the house on School Street, Roxbury.

William sometimes said, as he grew older,
that there was no circumstance in his life that
he would wish changed. There was, however,
one real drawback to the happiness of that
home, — one stain upon the glory of the United
States of America, to whose interests all were
devoted: I cannot remember the time when
slavery was not mentioned with indignation by
that patriotic family and the guests who gath-
ered round their hospitable board. Among
these were Mrs. Putnam's brother, James Rus-
sell Lowell; James Freeman Clarke; and many
relatives of Colonel Robert G. Shaw.

50 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6 1

In 185 1 my uncle and his family went to
Europe, but they never forgot the Important
concerns of their native land. When William
was in Nantes, in the west of France, he used
to escort a newly arrived colored boy to their
day school. Dr. Guepin, In whose family
in Nantes William spent several months, after-
ward described him In 1857 as a tall, handsome
youth, modest and reserved In society, and firm
and courageous In the practice of his duties.
His dream was then to serve the interests of
his country and become a historian.

In 1858, after an absence of seven years, dur-
ing which there were counted among his ac-
quaintances the man of science, the collegian,
the young officer, the workman, the common
soldier, and the peasant, he returned with the
family to the United States, with no regretful
longing for what he had left In Europe. His
love of country was as warm as if he had never
been absent from it. He visited Lexington
and Concord and found these and the streets of
his native place as much classic ground as those
of Rome. His young cousins, then in college,
hailed him as a comrade; the hand of the me-
chanic met in his a clasp as honest and as strong
as his own. He had fair hair and hazel eyes,
with bright color In his cheeks; he was full of
fun. His mother wrote of him, "His parents

WILLIAM LOWELL PUTNAM 51

often pleased themselves with the thought that
their vigorous and happy boy offered the type
of Young America."

Then came the election of Lincoln, and the
war. The recruits tramped through the street
singing "John Brown's Body." I remember
my cousin Willie saying to me soon after Sum-
ter had been fired upon: "People say this war
will not last more than six months! It will go
on for nearer six years; but when it is over
slavery will have been abolished." His mother
wrote, "The attainment of his majority was
marked by his entrance into the service of his
country."

On July 21, 1 86 1, William received from
Governor Andrew his commission as Second
Lieutenant in the Twentieth Regiment,
M.V.M., at the same time with his cousin
James Jackson Lowell. Colonel William Ray-
mond Lee had already said of him, "He will
make a fine officer; there is character in all he
does."

On the 4th of September, Lowell Putnam left
Camp Massasoit, with his regiment, for the
South. As the southward-bound train pulled
out from the station William stood on the plat-
form waving us good-bye. In less than seven
weeks from that time his earthly career was
closed.

52 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6 1

One of his men told William's mother that
at the Battle of Ball's Bluff "Lieutenant Put-
nam was standing among all the bullets falling,
with his arms folded, shouting to his men just
as calm as ever."

One of his brother officers wrote, ''The men
were so accustomed to obeying him that I could
hardly persuade them to help after he had told
them to leave him and help some one else be-
cause he was mortally wounded; and Henry
Howard Sturgis carried him on his back to the
boat and to the island." William's mother,
in a short memoir written soon after his death,
wrote words which will find an echo in many
another mother's heart: "And yet how many
and what hopes passed with that passing breath;
those that his young breast had cherished, silent
and resolute; those which admiring comrades
had set in him, generous and cheerful; those
that hearts already bereaved had treasured for
him, trembling and prayerful.

"If we may ask his country to hold him in
her memory ... it must be not only because
he laid down for her an almost untasted exist-
ence, but because he gave up with it projects
of great and noble accomplishment."

Pierson took his sword, hoping to return it to
Mrs. Putnam, but the cavalry party who cap-
tured them demanded and retained it. It was

WILLIAM LOWELL PUTNAM 53

in front of Petersburg that "that loyal sword
came again into loyal keeping," the trophy of
a Union volunteer who had supposed it to be
a rebel sword. In May, 1890, it was brought
safely home to William's mother.

54 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6l

CABOT JACKSON RUSSEL

Sergeant Forty-fourth M.V. Infantry, Sep-
tember 12, 1862. First Lieutenant Fifty-
fourth M.V., March 23, 1863. Captain, May
II, 1863. Killed at Fort Wagner, South Caro-
lina, July 18, 1863.

Cabot Jackson Russel was born in New York,
July 21, 1844. During his childish years his pas-
sion was for playing knight-errant and wounded
soldier. Over the boy's bed hung the portrait
of John Brown of Osawatomie. Cabot Russel
entered Harvard College in 1861, but was sus-
pended for inattention to his studies, which he
later greatly regretted. In June, 1862, on a
journey to the West, after the war had begun,
he wrote his father: "I don't know about Jim
or Charley [Lowell]. If anything has happened
to either one of them I shall want to enlist."
And when he heard of Lieutenant James Low-
ell's death he wrote, ''Now I shall certainly go,"
and turned back to his home in New York.
His age v/as just eighteen. He was appointed
to a vacant sergeantship in the Forty-fourth
Massachusetts Regiment, which was then re-
cruiting under Colonel F. L. Lee. His com-

CABOT JACKSON RUSSEL

CABOT JACKSON RUSSEL 55

manding officers highly commended his pluck,
endurance, and fidelity to duty. November i
he wrote, "I hope I and the regiment will be-
have well in to-morrow's fight."

On March 4, 1863, Cabot Russel appeared in
Boston to accept a second lieutenancy under
Colonel Robert G. Shaw in the Fifty-fourth
(colored) Regiment. He was soon given the
command of Company H and became noted for
careful drill and discipline. July 17, off Morris
Island, he described an engagement in which
they had to retreat and suffered heavy loss.
"My men did nobly." Adjutant James wrote,
"Capt. Russel took part in the sharp skirmish
on James Island (July 16), where his company
bore the brunt of the battle and he showed dis-
tinguished ability and courage." On the night
of the 17th, orders were received to join Gen-
eral Strong's Brigade. On the i8th the Fifty-
fourth Regiment reported for duty to Brigadier-
General Strong, and was placed by him at the
head of an assaulting column then forming on
the beach in front of Fort Wagner, which was
the objective point of attack. Company H
held the left of the second line of the regiment,
which position was the most dangerous, on
account of its proximity to the flanking fire of
James Island. At dusk the column was or-
dered forward, and Russel, with an ardor and

56 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6 1

devotion that never wavered, threw himself
upon his death. When last seen by those who
survived, he was lying mortally wounded on the
ground, and across him the body of his dear
friend Captain William H. Simpkins, his com-
rade-in-arms and in death.

Adjutant James wrote of him, ''From tem-
perament and principle he was an enthusiast
for freedom. . . . His sympathies grew with the
enforcement of the negroes' rights. He would
gladly have devoted his life, if it had been pro-
tracted, to this cause. As it was, he gave it up
in its very flower with a zeal, a courage, a dis-
interestedness unsurpassed even in the annals
of the war. To his soldiers he said, 'Do not
touch me; move on, men! follow your colors.' "

^^

&*».:■

SAMUEL STORROW

SAMUEL STORROW^ 57

SAMUEL STORROW

Corporal Forty-fourth Alassachusetts \'ol-
unteer Infantry, September 20, 1862-Jiine 18,
1863. First Lieutenant Second Massachusetts
Volunteer Infantry, September 22, 1864. Killed
at Ayerysborough (Black Creek), North Caro-
lina, March 16, 1865.

Samuel Storrow \yas born in Boston, Massa-
chusetts, July 24, 1843. From his earliest
years he showed great quickness of apprehen-
sion and readiness to apply practically ^yhat-
eyer he acquired. As he grew older he dis-
played much manliness of character and a
perfect independence of judgment. He en-
tered college in i860, at the age of seventeen.
When the war broke out the next spring he felt
a strong desire to join the army, and began to
study military works to fit himself for what-
ever might be required of him. In the spring
of 1862, on account of his eyes, he obtained
leave of absence and sailed for Fayal, the
Azores. On his return he found that his father
was absent in Europe; that his brother Charles
had just entered the army with a commission
of captain in the Forty-fourth Massachusetts,

58 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6 1

then being filled up for immediate service.
Before Sam could hear from his father, his
mother, with unflinching loyalty, assumed the
responsibility for his enlistment, and he was
mustered in as Corporal in Company H, Sep-
tember 20, 1862. On October 12th he wrote
his father: "It seems to me the part of a cow-
ard to stay at home and allow others to fight
my battles and incur dangers for me. Assure
mother fully of your approval of the course she
has taken. Everybody thinks she has acted
nobly."

The Forty-fourth was immediately ordered
to North Carolina, and remained there during
its whole term of service. In December, 1862,
at the moment of the advance on Kingston,
Storrow wrote, "As I saw the glorious Stars and
Stripes of the Tenth Connecticut way ahead,
dancing in the sunlight, I felt that it would be
glorious to die under that flag; how easy it
would be to uphold it with one's life."

In June, 1863, the Forty-fourth was mustered
out, and Storrow returned to college, graduat-
ing with his class, and applied for a commission
in the Second Massachusetts, and on Septem-
ber 22, 1864, upon nomination of General Cogs-
well and the strong recommendation of Colonel
Francis L. Lee of the Forty-fourth, he received
his commission as First Lieutenant in the Sec-

SAMUEL STORROW 59

ond Massachusetts and set off for Atlanta,
Georgia, where his regiment was then stationed.

The Second Massachusetts Regiment formed
part of the Twentieth Army Corps in the left
wing of Sherman's army which left about the
middle of November for its "march to the sea."
Lieutenant Storrow, in his captain's absence,
commanded his company through the whole
campaign, until after the fall of Savannah.
Storrow wrote an exceedingly graphic descrip-
tion of the way Sherman's army reduced the
destruction of railways almost to a branch of
scientific engineering.

March 12, 1865, when two miles from Fay-
etteville, North Carolina, Storrow wrote home:
"First of all, everybody I know of is well and
hearty, and best and heartiest of all am I."
"This campaign has been in every respect
harder than the last." "The four corps of our
army are concentrated here, all on the same
day, without jostling or delay."

At Savannah, Lieutenant Storrow was de-
tailed for staff duty on application of the regi-
mental commander who had just been brevetted
as Brigadier-General. The order was dated
January 16, 1865, and Storrow acted as aide to
General Cogswell during the march across
North Carolina and until his career ended.

In a letter dated March 24, 1865, to Hon.

6o MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6 1

Charles S. Storrow, General Cogswell informed
him of the death of his son, mentioning him as
*' personal aide to myself." The letter goes on
to say: "Mr. Storrow died of wounds received
in action March i6, 1865, about twenty miles
from Fayetteville, North Carolina, while car-
rying an order to the left of the brigade. . . .
He died in about fifteen or twenty minutes
afterwards. . . . He was not insensible when
first wounded, and he had the coolness and self-
possession to send word to me that he was
wounded, that he had carried out my instruc-
tions, and also sent me the information I had
wished for. He was a brave, faithful, and most
promising young officer. . . . He joined my
regiment in October. I was pleased with him
at once and can say that in all my experience I
never saw a new and young officer take hold of
his work so well. In my own mind I selected
him at once for the place I afterwards asked
him to accept. He became eminently popular
in this brigade; and not until after I had lost
him did I fully realize of how much actual ser-
vice he was to myself and my command.

"William Cogswell
'^ Brevet Brigadier-General U.S. Volunteers.'''^

Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Morse, (Acting)
Colonel of the Massachusetts Second Regiment,

SAMUEL STORROW 6l

said of Lieutenant Storrow, "I watched him
ride across the field with his earnest eager look
when he was carrying that last message for the
General, just before he was wounded; he was
a fine spirited young fellow, and his loss was
greatly felt by those who had been associated
with him during his short term of service."

62 MEMOIRS OF THE WAR OF '6 1

SUMNER PAINE

Second Lieutenant Twentieth M.V. Infantry,
May, 1863. Killed at Gettysburg, Pennsyl-
vania, July 3, 1863, after only two months in
the service of his country.

Sumner Paine was born May 10, 1845. At
eleven years of age he went with his two
brothers through most of the passes of Central
Switzerland, climbing the highest mountains
without the least fatigue. He returned home
in 1858, and graduated with his class from the
Latin School, entering Harvard College in
July, 1 86 1.

Sumner entered the army in May, 1863, as
Second Lieutenant, Twentieth Massachusetts
Volunteer Militia. When just eighteen he
reached the railway at Fredericksburg. The
Battle of Chancellorsville took place the next
day. His cousin, Captain O. W. Holmes, was
very soon wounded, and on Friday, July 3,
Sumner took the command of his company,
which he held through that terrible day.
Then came the forced marches to Gettysburg.
Wednesday and Thursday had left the fortunes
of war trembling in the balance. Friday, the

SUMNER PAINE

SUMNER PAINE 63

Second Corps under Hancock held the left
centre, the key to our position. Here General
Lee ordered Pickett's Division, veteran troops,
to make their last terrible assault. Not a shot
was fired by the Twentieth until the enemy was
near and Lieutenant Macy gave the order.
Then began the fire, quick and deadly. Ten
or twenty rods to our right the weight of the
enemy crushed through our line, passing it up
a little hill. This was the crisis of the day, if
not the turning-point of the war. Generals
Hancock and Gibbons had both been wounded.
Macy received orders to lead the Twentieth
against the enemy, gave orders to Abbott and
to his Adjutant, but before they were repeated
to any one else both were shot down. Other
troops came up. It was in the thickest of the
fight, in front of his men, that Lieutenant Paine
was struck by a ball which broke his leg. Fall-
ing on his knee he waved his sword and urged
on his men, and was at that moment struck by
a shell which caused his instant death. His
last words were, "Isn't this glorious.^"

His body was found close to a fence where
the rebels made their last desperate stand.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION 65

SOURCES OF INFORMATION IN COMPILING
THIS VOLUME

"Life of Governor John A. Andrew," by Henry G. Pearson,

1904.
"Charles Russell Lowell, Life and Letters," by E. W.

Emerson, 1907.
"Harvard Memorial Biographies," 1867.
"Addresses Delivered by Henry L. Higginson, 1890-97."
"Addresses of Henry Lee," by G. F. Putnam, edited by

Frank Moore, 1862.
"Memoir of William Lowell Putnam," by Mrs. Mary

Lowell Putnam, 1862-63.
"The Return of the Sword," by Mrs. Mary Lowell Put-
nam, 1897.
"Memoir of James Jackson," by James Jackson Putnam,

1905.
"The Boston Symphony Orchestra," by M. A. DeWolfe

Howe, 1914.
"Memorise Positum," by James Russell Lowell, 1863.
"H. S. Russell," by John T. Morse, Jr., Harvard Graduates'

Magazine, 1905.
"Life and Correspondence of Henry Ingersoll Bowditch,

by his son, Vincent Y. Bowditch," 1902.
"Uncle Tom's Cabin," by Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1852.
"Letters written during the Civil War," by Charles F.

Morse, 1865.

66 SOURCES OF INFORMATION

"Field, Camp, Hospital and Prison in the Civil War," by

Charles A. Humphreys, 1918.
"The Journal of Negro History," by Carter G. Woodson,

1919.
"Modern Industrialism and the Negroes of the United

States," by Archibald H. Grimke, 1908.
"The Negro," by W. E. B. Dubois, 1915.
"Negro Year Book," Tuskegee Institute Press.
Reports of Fiske University.

"Reminiscences," by E. C. Putnam, July 8, 1915.
Autobiography of Charles Francis Adams.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

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