9 Weeks at Harper's Ferry

Austin Stearns describes the same action:  

     "One day a detachment of I and K under Major Gould went over the river to the "Sacred soil' and up the Shenandoah to some Flouring Mills, where there was quite a quantity of wheat stored. After staying an hour or so we went back, K in advance.  All was quiet til the boat I was in was half way across the river, when the bullets commenced to whistle over our heads, fired at us from Bolivar Heights.  It seemed they had been watching us all the time.  As we outnumbered them, they had not dared to open fire till we were partly over the river. Co. I was coming down Shenandoah Street and they were fired upon too.  We did not return their fire till we were over, for the boat was crowded.  Orders came to recross.  We went back, threw out a line of skirmishers, and advanced up the hill, the rebs retreating as we advanced.  We picked up a gun, a Mississippi rifle, which Chandler Robbins sent home to Westboro.      The citizens said they carried away three in a wagon. We went over beyond the town and stayed till night.  Nothing more was seen of the rebs."  (Three Years With Company K;  p. 34 - 35; used with permission).

     (The Massachusetts Adjutant Generals report shows Schriber received a commission as Major in the 1st Maryland Cavalry, April 1st 1862.  He had been gone, off and on, from the regiment frequently since October.  Captain Moses Palmer and Lt. Brown were promoted to their rightful place.)   Mr. Humphrey's research continues:

     "There is a three page report from R. C. Shriber Aide-de-Camp and Acting Inspector-General to Brig.-Gen. James Shields, WINCHESTER, March 26, 1862 which relates in flowery prose how he almost single handedly won the Battle of Kernstown and ends with “Most respectfully, your obedient, humble servant.”  There is nothing humble in the message and I am not going to waste space here.

     R.C. Shriber is mentioned in Official Records three times.  Two of the three are unimportant mentions as commander of Company I  (O.R. series I.  vol V  pg 198 & 240 ).  In O.R. I. XII page 353 there is an important mention in a message by Jas. Shields to Brig.-Gen. Carroll on June 7, 1862.  Here as Gen Shields refers to deterioration in the situation “Colonel Shriber is at work.” The index confirms that this is R. C. Shriber.

     And there is this message I found on the internet at ehistory:

May 24, 1862 R.C. Shriber, Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, and Assistant Adjutant General, Headquarters, 1st Division, Department of the Rappahannock.  Near Fredricksburg, Virginia. To Carleton White, Clerk, Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio. Signed: Lieutenant Colonel R. C. Shriber, Chief of Staff and Acting Assistant Adjutant General 1st ( or Shields } Division

     So this man has managed to string a grand title and get on the good side {?} of his general, and reaches the pinnacle of his career.

     We have a good idea when he was dismissed from the Army.

     Just after the battle of Cedar Mtn.  (Battle of Cedar Mtn. August 9, 1862), the following is related in “Three Years With Company K” by Serg’t. Austin C. Stearns on Page 90: “In a few days we marched down the west side of the mountain and pitched our camp close up under the south side.  At our first halt and before we had taken rest Col. Leonard said:  ‘Men of Massachusetts have you heard the news?  R. Morris Copeland and Cap’t Schriber have been dismissed from the service.’  Of what particular offence Copeland was guilty I do not know, but Schriber could have fraud wrote after his name and not over extress it.  And so they weeded them out, but not as fast as they deserved to be.”

     The best summation of the career and character of Captain Shriber is given by Charles E. Davis, Jr., on page 10 of  “Three Years in the Army.”  He does this without ever mentioning his name.

      “We had scarcely reached the water before it was discovered that again the cause of alarm was a pig who made sufficient noise in his wanderings to alarm the officer in command of the detachment, who thought it was the enemy.  This time it was a Prussian idiot, who playing the role of Don Quixote, deprived us of a night’s sleep.  On the way back to camp, at daylight, he was the subject of comment, and some there were who boldly expressed a wish that he might be sent where the wicked cease from troubling.

     The appointment of this officer to our regiment was one of the instances of attempting to graft foreign fruit on to a native tree.  As it proved a lamentable failure, no apology is necessary for showing him up as a warning to future governors in making such attempts.  The fact that he had expressed a contemptuous opinion of Yankees doesn’t count for much, of course, but that was no reason why he should make himself or the regiment conspicuous by peculiarities in dress or manners.  Eccentricities of this kind were unbecoming in a man of such mediocrity as he.  Evidently the air we breathed was unsuitable for a man of his expansive nature, and we were glad when he shook the dust of the Thirteenth from his feet, remembering that ‘Pride goeth before destruction,’ we watched his career with interest as he sailed aloft, unconscious of his elephantine conceit, soaring higher and higher until he reached the rarefied air of a lieutenant-colonel in a Maryland brigade, where swindling and conduct unbecoming an officer were frowned upon.  Having reached this giddy height he exploded like the sky-rocket, whose flight he so much resembled, and like it plunged to earth again, followed by the fiery tears of his mysterious friends.  Notwithstanding he was dismissed from the service, he is, probably, now in ‘Fair Bingen on the Rhine’ relating the heroic deeds he performed in Yankee land to save the Union. He was the author of ‘Company I, run!!!’"

© Richard Humphrey, 2000

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Part III - Scouting Parties.

Excerpt from "The Strange Story of Harper's Ferry"

     Harper's Ferry Historian Joseph Barry (mentioned above) also had a few things to say about the men of the 13th Mass: 
"After the departure of the main army for Darnestown the 13th regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers was left at Sandy Hook as a corps of observation and a guard for the ford at Harper's Ferry.   These men were uncommonly zealous in shooting at rebels as long as they -- the 13th -- were on the Maryland side of the river with the broad Potomac between them and the enemy, or rather between them and Virginia for, now, it rarely happened that a Confederate soldier appeared anywhere within gun shot of them.  Crouching under the buttresses of the ruined bridge on the Maryland side of the river in the now dry bed of the canal, or among the thickets and rocks of the Maryland Heights, the gallant 13th kept up a constant fire on the few inhabitants of Harper's Ferry, suspecting or affecting to suspect them of being rebels.

     Everything that moved about the streets they shot at vindictively.  The appearance of even a mullein leaf swaying in the wind elicited a volley from these ever vigilant guardians of the nation, and it was lucky for the place that they were indifferent marksmen, else it would have been wholly depopulated....

     Sometimes the 13th would send detachments in skiffs across the river and on one or two occasions they were encountered by parties of Confederates who would occasionally lurk in the cemetery and behind the fences on Camp Hill and keep up a scattering fire on the “Yankees” in the town.  In one of these skirmishes a rebel soldier named Jones was killed near the graveyard, a bullet having penetrated through the palm of his hand and then into his stomach."  
(The Strange Story of Harper's Ferry, p. 111 -112).

Excerpt from "Three Years With Company K"

     Austin Stearns illustrates a few such instances in his Memoirs, “Three Years with Company K,” (pages 29-30):

       “We had several members who were troubled with an optical illusion - especially in the night when on guard. They could see millions of boats, loaded to their utmost capacity with rebels armed to the teeth crossing the river to massacre us, advance, take Washington, and subdue the North.  Just at the critical moment, when the Nation's life hung by a thread, he would fire.  The Corporal with a file of men would double quick to his post to find out the cause.  He would relate what he saw; but the dull eyes of the Corporal could see nothing but the running water on it's way to the sea.  The next week an extract from the heroic soldier’s letter would appear in the Westboro paper, through the kindness of friends, giving the details of the nation's narrow escape through his vigilance.

     All the boats, scows, and skiffs, for miles up and down the river, we had destroyed or taken to our side.
Lieut. Fox with a score of men -- I was one of them -- had been down the Virginia side and destroyed everything we could find that would float.  Other parties had gone up the river on the same kind of errand.”   
     
     It was expected at this time that a determined effort would be made by the Confederates to cross the river for a major offensive.  Scouting parties of the 13th, were sent into Virginia to seize anything that could be useful to such a force, horses and boats generally, but sometimes other things.

 Austin Stearns, (p. 28) writes:      

    "We frequently crossed the river to the sacred soil of Virginia.  I remember of crossing over on the ferry boat one day -- five or six of us; we tried to manage the boat ourselves.  The current was quite rapid and we lost control of her -- away she went -- down the river, striking one of the piers of the bridge, turning her completely round.  Down we went toward the rocks, but good fortune favored us; the current here turned in shore.  We caught hold of some bushes, holding her fast, escaping a good ducking if nothing more. Someone went for the boatman; he came and took us over with out any difficulty.

     "We amused ourselves by walking about, looking over some of the unoccupied houses, bringing away some things that were amusing if not very useful.

…I was on an expedition under Lieut. Fox that went over to the Loudoun side and up in the valley two or three miles. We captured four or five horses, then went for the geese -- getting a dozen or so; these we cooked and tried to eat.  I might as well have tried to chew leather as the flesh of the goose I had.  I have never tried to eat goose since."

 Lysander Parker's Recollections

    Lysander "Dixie" Parker of Company I, has another such remembrance found amidst “The Story of the John Brown Bell;” a pamphlet prepared by members of the John A. Rawlins Post 43, G.A.R.  Copyright 1910 by Rawlins Building Association, Marlboro, Mass.  
 (--more on the bell later) :    

     “One thing quite amusing which is still fresh in memory was the seizure of a stock of goods at a drugs store.  The Full Company was at this raid with overcoats belted on the outside.  When we entered the store the captain gave strict orders that everything should be sent down to the boats, to be forwarded to Washington, and that we must not appropriate anything ourselves.  The store was quickly cleaned and the company ordered to fall in.  When the order came to front, the spectacle which confronted the captain was indeed ludicrous.  Above the belt, around the body and up to the chin, could be seen very prominent the shapes of cigar boxes and the necks of bottles, and the expressions on the boys faces would have excited the risibilities of any army mule -- The captain had to smile but said nothing, and of course the contents inside the overcoats were all sent to Washington.  One night, after sampling the contents of some of the bottles, the boys had lots of courage and crossed the river without orders, in search of pigs and poultry, and came very near being captured.”

Westboro Transcript,  October 12, 1861   Westboro From Co. K. – A printed letter from a member of the company states that they have been having the equinoctial storm out there, and that it was very severe.  The writer says: “We have had to lay on the ground, wet to the skin, and it was cold enough to freeze even a Northerner.’  ‘The river,’ he continues, ‘has risen three or four feet since the rain, sweeping the remains of the bridges burnt by secessionists, in large piles down the river.  Timbers which were being used in the reconstruction of the bridges were also carried away.’   They appear to have once more ‘invaded the sacred soil,’ and to have found good picking.  They got about ten boxes of tobacco, fine cut in papers, lots of champagne and whiskey, six or eight hundred cigars, some looking-glasses, two mules, three horses, three or four saddles, one tent, a barrel and a half of flour, and four or five guns.  Quite an assortment.   He further says:  “I have not received any letters from home for some time.  We are badly situated to get anything by mail or express without much delay.  We are right down between two mountains and can see nothing but the mountains and the sky; and we can’t hear as much as we can see.’ (digital transcription by Brad Forbush)

Part IV - Pritchard's Mill, September 15th 1861.    

    Major Jacob Parker Gould commanded the small detachment of 13th Mass. troops, but Gould reported to Colonel John W. Geary of the 28th Pennsylvania Volunteers, commanding all the troops in the vicinity of Harper's Ferry.  Geary was an ambitious man.  At a young age, he put himself through college after paying off his father's debts; working as a surveyor and engineer on the Allegheny Portage Rail Road.  Active in local militia, he went to the Mexican War as Lieutenant-Colonel. in the 2nd Pennsylvania.  He fearlessly led them in a charge at Chapultepc.  Geary was wounded 5 times.  He returned home a hero, moved west, and became San Francisco's first mayor.  There, he cleaned up the vigilante gangs of that wide-open city.  President Pierce called on 36 year old Geary to bring an end to the bleeding in Kansas territory appointing him Governor; August, 1856.  In 3 months time, with the force of Federal troops, Geary faced down both pro-slavery & anti-slavery factions that were terrorizing the region.  The six foot, six inches tall Geary was truly a commanding figure.  When the Civil War broke out, he raised two regiments and took command of the 28th Pa.

This painting of John W. Geary is attributed to J.M. Boundy, artist, circa 1867; oil on canvas; from the State Museum of Pennsylvania, PA Historical and Museum Commission.  Used with permission.

 Making things hot for the Union troops at Harper's Ferry was Turner Ashby and his Confederate cavalry.  They frequently picketed the Virginia shore.  Ashby's friends at Harper's Ferry kept him apprised of federal troops' activities.   Likewise Col. Geary was informed by friends in town of Confederate plans to occupy Harper's Ferry on September 14th with 3,000 troops aided by Ashby's cavalry.  Geary was skeptical, but increased his vigilance.  The morning of September 15th, a mounted scouting partiy led by Lt. David L. Brown, Company I,  received a sudden volley from concealed Confederates on the opposite shore near Pritchard's Mill.  John L. Spencer of Company I was killed instantly.  This opened a general skirmish along the river.  Colonel Geary's report follows:
 

(Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, series 5, vol. 5). SEPTEMBER 15, 1861. – Skirmish at Pritchard’s Mill, Va., near Antietam Ford, Md. Report of Col. John W. Geary, Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania Infantry.  POINT OF ROCKS, MARYLAND, September 17, 1861.      SIR:  On the night of the 13th instant I received reliable information that about 2,200 rebels were stationed in an offensive attitude between the Shenandoah and Shepherdstown, on the Virginia shore of the Potomac. This force was composed of infantry (the greater portion of them being in the neighborhood of the Old Furnace and Pritchard’s Mill.  The number of them actually engaged is variously estimated at from 500 to 600, while they had a reserve of 1,500 or 1,600 within a short distance behind the hills and along the railroad in the direction of Martinsburg), cavalry, and artillery, with four pieces of cannon.  Their object seemed to be to attack the right of my command, resting about 3 miles above Harper’s Ferry, on the Maryland side of the river, and threatened that they would turn that position, gain the rear of my pickets, and capture a considerable portion of my command, consisting of two companies of the Thirteenth Massachusetts Regiment.  This information reached me at 11 o’clock at night; and one hour after I proceeded from my camp at this place with three companies of riflemen, (B, I and L) of my regiment, a section of the New York Ninth Battery, with two rifled cannon, commanded by Lieut. J.W. Martin.  After a very rapid and, owing to the extreme [heat] of the weather, fatiguing march of 12 miles I reached Harper’s Ferry about daylight on the morning of the 14th.  I found the rebels then engaged in making an attack upon the troops stationed above my command near Sharpsburg.  Those troops made a handsome defense, and before I could proceed to their assistance the rebels retired, under pretense of having received orders to report at once at Manassas.      On the morning of the 15th I acquired considerable knowledge of the position of the enemy, and desiring to assure myself more particularly with regard to their movements, I detailed scouting parties to such points as the rebels were said to be, to ascertain the truth. One of these parties, consisting of an officer (Lieutenant Brown), 1 sergeant, and 6 privates, all of the Thirteenth Massachusetts Regiment, mounted, by my direction pushed forward as far as Antietam Ford; this party, returning, while opposite Pritchard’s Mill, were fired upon suddenly from a body of men perfectly concealed.  One man of the party was instantly killed on the spot, and, owing to a continuous fire kept [up] on the remaining portion of the party, it was impossible for them to move from the position to which they had taken themselves to prevent further losses as the enemy deployed down the river.      About the same time a number of the enemy made their appearance on the apex brow of the Loudoun Heights, also on the road leading around its base to Harper’s Ferry, and commenced firing. At the same [time] a considerable number of them opened fire from the heights back of Harper’s Ferry and from all parts of the railroad along the river up to Pritchard’s Mill.  The latter were deployed, well covered behind the embankments of the railroad and bushes, and secreted in houses, barns, and lime quarries.      I stationed Company L, under command of Captain Barr, of my regiment, upon that portion of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad below the abutment of the burnt bridge, in the direction of Sandy Hook, with instructions to clear the Loudoun Heights and the road at their base, which they did, causing the enemy quickly to retire, leaving 5 or 6 killed and wounded on the ground. I stationed a company and a half of the Thirteenth Massachusetts Regiment, commanded by Major Gould, from the bridge upward to the first lock on the canal, a distance of about 1 ½ miles, to defend against attacks from the town and surrounding heights. I also left one piece of artillery with Major Gould’s detachment in such position as to sweep the several streets of Harper’s Ferry.  I placed Company B, Captain Warden, of my regiment, above the lock, where the right of Major Gould’s command rested, and deployed it along the river about 1 mile.  This company rendered very efficient service by its good marksmen at long range and seriously galled the enemy. I then advanced with one piece of artillery, commanded by Lieutenant Martin; half of Company I, Thirteenth Massachusetts Regiment, commanded by Captain Schriber; and Company I, commanded by Captain McDonough, Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers. The combined advance, numbering about 130 men, took possession of several dry basins along the canal and a point known as Maryland Ore Banks, which afforded an excellent shelter to my men. Thus situated, a very spirited fire was maintained for something over two hours, the fire of the enemy gradually slackening as they were dislodged by our artillery and sharpshooters, until about 6 o’clock the firing entirely ceased.  (The enemy were driven from every point they occupied and sullenly retired beyond the range of our guns toward the interior).  During this affair considerable damage was done to the mill, houses, and barns in which the rebels had taken shelter within reach of our cannon.      As far as can be ascertained through Virginia sources deemed reliable there were 18 of the rebels killed and about 25 wounded. It is impossible to ascertain exactly what the casualties of the enemy are, from the fact [that] the river divided us from them, and we have partly to rely upon the Virginians themselves for our information. Our loss was 1 killed and 3 slightly wounded. The wounds all occurred from fragments detached from the bands around the James shell, discharged by our own artillery.     The efficiency and long range of our Enfield rifles has been fully proved in this affair, and I am pleased to state they have verified our fullest expectations. Their superior accuracy and length of range over those of the enemy account in part for the small number of casualties on our side.      I am much gratified to be able to state that the troops under my command, without exception, behaved with the most admirable bravery and coolness.  And I would be derelict of duty if I did not state that the highest meed of praise is due to the company officers for the gallant manner in which they carried out every order issued and the noble emulation which animated them during the action. Several small skirmishes have occurred since, but owing to the smallness of the numbers engaged would not justify a detailed statement.      A skirmish occurred this evening near Harper’s Ferry between the rebels and a portion of troops, resulting successfully to our arms. Several of the enemy are reported killed and wounded.      A small skirmish occurred above this place, in which, it is said, one of the rebels was killed. Respectfully submitted. [JOHN W. GEARY, Colonel Twenty-eighth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers.] Capt. ROBERT WILLIAMS, Assistant Adjutant-General. Casualties of the enemy: 18 killed and 25 wounded. Casualties of my command:  1 killed; 3 slightly wounded. Articles captured:  2 iron cannon (12 pounders); 2 fine bay mules; 2 small brass mortars; 1 wagon; 1 prisoner, William S. Engles, second lieutenant Company K, Second Virginia Volunteers.

The Death of John L. Spencer

     John L. Spencer, Company I,  was the first man in the regiment killed by enemy fire.  His loss was keenly felt.  Captain Moses Palmer, a principal organizer of the company, kept the bullet that killed Spencer.  Palmer's descendants still have the misshapen bullet with a piece of paper that reads “This is the ball that killed John L. Spencer of Co. “I” 13th Regt. Mass. Vols. Spencer was shot on the tow path of the Canal near Sandy Hook, Md. and was shot by the Rebels from the Harpers Ferry side of the River Potomac -- first man killed in the Regt.  His body was sent to Marlboro.  The ball passed through his body killing him instantly.”  M. P. Palmer, Comdg Co “I”

Westboro Transcript; Three letters.

Westboro Transcript; Sept. 21, 1861 From a letter received by Mr. David B. Goodale, - from which we are permitted to make extracts, - we learn that Mr. John L. Spencer, a member of the Marlboro Union Guards, was shot on Sunday afternoon last by the rebels, while out on a scout under command of Lieut. Brown.  The ball entered the right side, about four inches below the arm-pit, and passed directly through the body, so that it was picked out just beneath the skin.  This sad occurrence took place while Capt. Blackmer of Westboro was preaching, and he immediately discontinued divine services.  Spencer was highly esteemed by Mr. Goodale, in whose employ he remained a number of years, and was a member of the Sons of Temperance in Marlboro.  His body was forwarded to Marlboro. (digital transcription by Brad Forbush).

Westborough Transcript; September 28, 1861 FROM HARPER’S FERRY. – C. R. Brigham under date of Sept. 14th, 15th, and 16th, writes that they had just been into Virginia, and seized another 12-pounder, two mules, worth $150 each, and one prisoner.  They had the fire engine, previously captured, into working order; and Corporal Jones and Private Geo. Emery were making themselves useful in building carriages for the captured guns.  As soon as the four other expected pieces of artillery should arrive, they would probably make an attack on Charlestown (the place of John Brown’s trial), 8 miles distant. In regard to the skirmish of the 15th, he writes:  “This A.M., a scouting party of 6 from Co. K and 6 from Co. I, started out on horseback.  * * Nothing special transpired in camp until 3 o’clock, when the drum sounded to fall in for religious services, Capt. Blackmer acting as chaplain.  The services commenced, - and so did the rebels.  Word came that our pickets were being fired upon, and 4 companies and 1 piece of artillery were immediately sent forward.  The rebels kept up their fire from behind a log house across the river; but the artillery soon shelled them out.  We had the pleasure of seeing some 6 or 8 of them fall, and probably double that number were killed in and about the house and the woods behind it.  The only loss to our forces was John L. Spencer, of Co. I, killed. He was with the scouting party, and was killed at the first volley.  The men of that party used up all of their own cartridges, and those upon the body of Spencer, and then were forced to lay in the water of the canal two and a half hours.  The artillery fired 29 shots, at a cost of $77, besides about 1500 rounds from our rifles. ‘Since the regiment came out here there has been one killed, (SPENCER ) one wounded by the enemy, one by our own men, (EDWIN SMITH) and one by his own carelessness.’ ‘We have just learned that the rebels are planting a battery in the woods where we had the fight yesterday.  We expect to have another set-to right away.” (digital transcription by Brad Forbush).

Westborough Transcript;  Sept. 28, 1861 The body of John L. Spencer, who was killed by the rebels in Virginia last week Sunday, was received in Marlboro, last Thursday afternoon and was deposited in the Town House.  On Friday afternoon The Hook and Ladder Co. the two Engine Companies, accompanied by the Onamog Divisions Sons of Temperance, - of which Spencer was a member – turned out in large numbers, to perform the last sad obsequies to the memory of the departed patriot.  A procession was formed at the Town Hall.  The remains were taken in charge and the solemn courtege moved to the Congregational Church where the formal Ceremonies were performed by Revs., and Mssrs. Anthony, Bailey and Wakefield.  A feeling of sadness, pervaded the assemblage, and when the rites were over the mortal remains of John L. Spencer, were consigned to the tomb to await the action of his friends at or near Rouses’ Point. Co. I of which Spencer was a member have forwarded to us a series of resolutions on the death of their brother in arms, which we cheerfully publish.  HARPER’S FERRY LOCK, SANDY HOOK, MD. Sept. 16, 1861. At a meeting of the Officers and members of Co. I Capt. Shriber, 13th Regiment Mass. Vol. (Union Rifles Marlboro,) it was unanimously resolved: That we deeply mourn the loss sustained, by the death of John L. Spencer, which reached him in the gallant execution of his duties, as a defender of his country’s government, in an action on the banks of the Potomac, Sept. 15th.  His kindness of heart had won for him without an exception the deep attachment of all his comrades, his promptness and bravery made him much respected by his officers, and his generosity and politeness made him much respected by all who knew him. Resolved;  That we desire to convey to his parents and relatives our deep sympathy in their bereavements, trusting that it might be a comfort to them to know that the whole company feels with them the loss sustained, and that it was for our country’s sake, that he gave his life. Resolved;  That we convey our heartfelt thanks to Major Gould and Captain Blackmer, of the 13th , Capt. Richardson, of the 21st Mass. Vol., and those members of Co. K. 13th and 21st Mass. Vol. who bore the remains of our comrade to their final resting place, and the Union Relief Committee of Baltimore for their kind assistance. Resolved; That the clerk of the company will transmit a copy of these Resolutions, to the Marlboro Journal, for insertion, and also a copy by letter to the relatives of the deceased. L.H. Russell,                                         Committee A. G. Howe,                                             on C.W. Whitcomb.                                  Resolutions. (digital transcription by Brad Forbush).

Part V - The John Brown Bell

Excerpt from "The Story of the John Brown Bell" Post 43, G.A.R., 1910.

     “Our Company tendered their services to the U.S. Government May 20th, 1861, and was ordered to report at Fort Independence, Boston Harbor, June 29th, and became Company I of the 13th Massachusetts Volunteer Militia.    

     We were mustered into the U.S. Service July 16th and left Boston for the front on the 29th.  On the 23rd of August, we went into camp two miles from the Potomac, and about six miles from Harpers Ferry.

      On the same date, Companies I, K and C, and a section of Rhode Island Artillery under command of Maj. Gould, were detailed to go to the river and guard the fords which connected Harpers Ferry with the Maryland side.  While there we received orders to go to Harper's Ferry and take everything of value to the Government and remove it across the river where it was to be shipped direct to the War Department. We immediately pressed into service two scows, lashed them together, then stretched a rope diagonally across the river, the highest point being on the opposite shore.  Another line was there made fast, with the other end passing around a pulley on board the scows.  With this device, we easily pulled the boats across the river, and although heavily laden on their return, with the assistance of the current and use of poles, we landed our freight on the Maryland side. From the Arsenal and Hall's Rifle Works, we took a large quantity of minerals, also fifteen thousand stands of arms, and various other things of less importance. Being on historic grounds, our thoughts naturally turned towards the engine house, for 'twas here that John Brown fought his last fight for the liberation of the slaves.  Again in imagination we could see the old Spartan as he felt the pulse of his dying son with one hand and grasped his rifle with the other.

      In vain we searched for something to take with us as a souvenir, for others had been there before us and appropriated everything of value. We finally decided to take the bell and send it home for the Fire Department, as the Hook & Ladder Co. had none.  Brown had planned to use this bell to sound the signal for the slaves to rally and flee to the mountains of Virginia, and there to make a stand and fight for their freedom.  The question was how we should remove it from the belfry.  We were equal to the occasion as the sequel proved.

      On Fast Day, which occurred Sept. 26, 1861, Lieut. David L. Brown and fifteen others of Company I crossed the river and procured a rope at a store nearby, then climbed to the roof of the engine house, disconnected the bell from the belfry, and proceeded to lower it.  Just as it reached the edge of the roof, the rope parted and the bell dropped, and striking on a flagstone, chipped off a few pieces from the flange, but not enough however to injure the tone of the bell.  We then loaded it on the scows and took it across the river.

     Realizing that our treasure was the property of Uncle Sam, we thought best to consult proper authority before proceeding further, and immediately through Major Gould, Provost Marshal of the 13th at Sandy Hook, we made direct application to the Government for it and in due season received permission from the War Department to appropriate the bell.  It was then boxed by Levi Taylor and Algernon S. Smith and placed on board the canal boat “Charles McCardell.”  This boat was used during the time we were there for the officers quarters and there it remained until we rejoined out regiment.

     ...On the 31st of October we received orders to return to our regiment, which was stationed at Williamsport. The canal boat accompanied us and the bell was landed at Williamsport Lock.

      Our regiment remained at this place during the winter. While there, we made the acquaintance of William Ensminger, who with his wife owned and managed two or three canal boats.  Mrs. Ensminger being an excellent cook, we engaged her to bake the bread of our company while we remained.

       Opinions there as well as at Harpers Ferry concerning the War were about equally divided.  The Union and Confederate Armies were constantly being recruited from both centers.  The war spirit was in the air and something must be done with the bell.  Unlike the ark of the covenant, it was too heavy for us to carry in our wanderings. Our salaries, eleven dollars per month, were hardly sufficient for us to ship the bell to Marlborough, and at the same time meet the demands of the sutler when pay day came around. We finally made a trade with Mr. Ensminger to care for the bell until called for.  We also left with him our regimental hats, a very gaudy affair, with a big black feather on one side and the American eagle on the other. During the winter we accumulated an extra quantity of clothing, which, being too cumbersome to carry on the march, was left in care of the same party.

     The first day of March, 1862, we were ordered across the river into the enemy's country.  Bidding farewell to our new found friends, we marched away, and the bell for some time was forgotten.  There it remained for thirty years.
 TO BE CONTINUED...

(This story will continue later at this website but if the reader is anxious to read the rest of the story visit the links page and follow links for the John Brown Bell).

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Part VI - The Battle of Bolivar Heights in 3 parts.

Part 1.  Herr's Mill; Prelude to the Battle.

     In 1840 a large mill was built on Virginius Island, adjacent to Harper's Ferry.  It replaced a smaller flour mill destroyed by fire a year earlier on the same site.   Abraham Herr, a native of Pennsylvania acquired the mill in 1848.  In 1850, the mill employed 5 people, and produced over 20,000 barrels of flour.  The 5 mill employees earned $27.50 a month on average - surpassing all other wages earned on Virginius Island.

     In July of 1854, Herr added to his holdings the property of the bankrupt Harper's Ferry & Shenandoah Manufacturing Company for the price of $25,000.00.  By 1855 Abraham Herr was sole proprietor of Virginius Island and all its industry.
 

   In 1860 the mill employed 10 men, and produced 32,000 barrels of flour annually, valued at $233,400.00.  Herr’s iron foundry employed 3 men; his cooperage which packaged flour from his mill employed 14 men.  All this industry came to a standstill in the chaotic early days of the war. The loyalties of the people at Harper’s Ferry were divided, and the goods produced by the local industry were desired by both sides.

     On April 17th 1861 delegates to the Virginia convention passed an ordinance of secession.  The next day all industry in the town of Harper’s Ferry came to a standstill.  The place was wild with excitement.  About 2,000 Virginia militia started for the town to seize the federal arsenal and the arms stored there.  The few federal troops in town to protect this property, under orders, destroyed the government buildings with fire & gunpowder, then retreated north across the river to safety.   Confederate militia occupied Harper’s Ferry the next day and declared martial law.  It was an uneasy time for citizens with Union sympathies.

     While the Confederates controlled the town, an armed posse detained the mail train one evening, and seized mail bags from the government agent.  The mail was taken to headquarters and used as evidence to arrest citizens suspected of having Union sympathies.  Abraham Herr was arrested and sent to Richmond, but he was soon released on parole.  On June 14th 1861 the Confederates abandoned Harper’s Ferry after a stay of 2 months.  They destroyed the railroad bridge across the Potomac before leaving.  On June 28th some Confederates returned and burned Hall's Rifle Works on Virginius Island.
  
     In July the Union troops returned under General Patterson.  At the end of the month, July 25, General Nathaniel P. Banks relieved Patterson and moved Union Headquarters to Sandy Hook, Maryland, July 31st.  During this very brief stay of six days, Banks ordered Abraham Herr’s mill to be disabled by federal troops - so as not to be of use to the Confederates.  The order was carried out by Lt.-Col. Andrews, 2nd Mass. Infantry, brother of the Governor of Massachusetts.
  
     In early October 1861, Abraham Herr approached Major Gould of the 13th Mass, Provost Marshall at Sandy Hook, and offered large quantities of un-milled wheat stored on his property to the government.  Major Gould informed General Banks, commander of all troops in the region, and Banks accepted the offer.  The wheat would be bagged and sent to Washington D.C. to make flour for the soldiers.
 
     Re-enforcements were called up to assist in the harvest and on October 8th Major Gould began supervising the removal of the wheat. Pickets patrolled the area while soldiers (and impressed citizens) sacked the wheat at the mill.  Joseph Barry writes “the citizens were promised a liberal per diem, but that, like many other good promises and intentions, form a part of the pavement of a certain region where it never freezes.”

     Confederate forces learned of the operation and decided to put a stop to it.  On the morning of October 16th, the 2nd anniversary of John Brown's raid, Lt.-Col. Turner Ashby suddenly showed up in force.  The Battle of Bolivar Heights commenced.  It was a heavy skirmish where both sides claimed victory, though both retreated at night. Before retiring, Col. John Geary commanding Union forces concluded that Confederates were using Edward W. Miller's iron foundry a couple of miles up-river at Shenandoah City to make shot and shell, and ordered it burned the same night.

     The next day, Major Gould wrapped up operations relating to the mill.  Twenty-six thousand bushels of wheat were saved for the Union.

  
      The day after that, October 18th, some Confederates returned dressed in citizens clothing and burned the mill. Harper’s Ferry Historian Joseph Barry writes that the machinery at the mill had only been disabled by the federal soldiers, and could have easily been repaired in a couple days time, but the burning of the mill destroyed it completely.  Abraham Herr sold his property in 1867.

Westboro Transcript; October 19, 1861. Regular Army Correspondence, No. V. Harper’s Ferry, MD Oct. 12th 1861 Messrs. Editors. – Not being chained as you are to the post editorial, my perhaps ‘mightier weapon than the sword,’ the pen, has grown rusty from inaction.  I may, however, claim pardon for my remissness, as others, with more fertile imaginations, have kept you posted about Co. K. Since my last our book of military experience has been written still farther beyond the preface, in the constant guard duty and the vast amount of fatigue work done, and our occasional slight skirmishes with the Nimrods of ‘Secesh.’ The place now shows well from the improvements that have been lavished upon it; while comfort has been consulted, and our quarters made suitable for winter occupation by the erection of bunks, and are furnished with stores obtained in Harper’s Ferry. We are now on the qui vive for a GRAND ADVANCE MOVEMENT of the Army, and ardently hope to take a part in it. On Tuesday we were unexpectedly re-inforced by two pieces of rifled cannon of the 2d R.I. Battery, direct from Banks’ Headquarters at Darnstown.  This battery was in the Bull Run rout, in which they lost five of their six pieces.  Quarters were soon provided for them, and acquaintance scraped, our men being eager to talk with those who had been so actively engaged in battle.  They are all evidently right true men, whole souled and whole hearted as soldiers should be, and a sample of the boys Little Rhody has sent to the field. On the next morning three companies of the Wisconsin 3d Reg’t  arrived, - picked men, it is said.  They are all stout and hardy, and evidently bent on ‘jumping new claims’ in  Virginia.  Our three companies of the 13th, ‘I.,’ ‘K.,’ and ‘C.,’ (the latter having been with us ten days) then crossed the river and advanced as far as Bolivar when a guard was stretched from the Potomac to the Shenandoah, - a distance of two miles  from that place – and all communications between Harper’s Ferry and the country beyond cut off.  During the day a ‘rope ferry’ was constructed across the river (now swollen by recent rains), and the three Wisconsin companies quickly transported across; at night they relieved our guards, who returned to Sandy Hook.  The next day, all, (with the exception of a small guard left to protect the quarters), re-crossed, and occupied an advanced position. A small scouting party of rebel cavalry fired upon one of our guards, and a squad of Co. C’s men, who were held in reserve, returned the fire, whereupon the rebels hastily retreated, supporting one of their wounded upon his horse, and leaving behind them a rifle and pistol. The order has been read before the companies, that there shall be no fireing upon the enemy’s pickets unless first fired upon by them, - in which latter case we reciprocate their favors, you maybe very sure. Yesterday our cannon were transported across the river, and placed in position up on the heights of Bolivar. We hear it rumored that still more troops are on the way here, but whether for a farther advance, or as a necessary addition to our present force, we know not. A large lot of wheat – between 20,000 and 30,000 bushels – has for several months been stored in a mill, whose working power was destroyed by Col. Gordon; and this has been taken possession of and is to be transported to Washington.  Only a portion of it is in bags, and Co. I are now engaged in measuring up and hauling it to the river side, and Co. K, are reloading it into canal boats.  It is the property of a Unionist firm, who can do nothing with it in its present position, and they are afraid it will fall into the hands of the rebels.  Quite an amount of it is injured by weevil. Although no baggage or stores have been moved across the river, the days of our sojourn in Maryland are evidently near their close.  We are anxious to get away from the river for several reasons, - one of which is that the company are suffering materially from fever and ague and diseases of like ilk common to this region; some ten or twelve being daily on the sick list. We are desirous to see some signs of the ‘grand advance’ which is to enable us to spend Christmas at home. The mail from the Camp (at Darnestown) makes us an occasional visit, (once in a week or ten days,) but it ignores the maxim that ‘Order is Heaven’s first Law,’ for it often brings letters and papers within a few days of date, in advance of others that have been weeks on the way. The Paymaster is anxiously looked for every day, and his arrival will be opportune to many depleted pockets, and carry delight to the hearts of the pie, cake, and fruit venders who swarm the place. Yours for the War - . (digital transcription by Brad Forbush).

Part 2.  Official Reports.

Report of Colonel John W. Geary, 28th Pennsylvania; Commanding all troops.

Official Records (O.R.) of the War of the Rebellion; Series 1; Volume 5. Report of Col. John W. Geary, Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania Infantry. HDQRS, TWENTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT PA. VOLS, Camp Tyndale, Point of Rocks, Md., October 18, 1861.      Sir:  On the 8th instant Maj. J.P. Gould, of the Thirteenth Massachusetts Volunteers, acting under orders of Major-General Banks, crossed the Potomac at Harper’s Ferry to seize a quantity of wheat held by the rebels at that point.  Three companies of the Third Wisconsin Volunteers, and a section of the Rhode Island battery, under Captain Tompkins, were ordered to report to Major Gould, for the purpose of assisting in and covering the necessary movements of the operation. On the 10th instant the major called on me to aid him with men and cannon, but as the necessity for them seemed to have vanished, the order was countermanded.  Again, on Sunday, the 13th I received reliable information that the rebel forces were concentrating in the direction of Harper’s Ferry and I also learned from Major Gould that he required assistance. In the evening, accompanied by Governor Sprague, of Rhode Island, and Colonel Tompkins of the Rhode Island Artillery, I went to Sandy hook, with two companies of my regiment and one piece of cannon.  On Monday I entered into Virginia, and on that day and the following one aided in the removal of the wheat, and held in check the gathering forces of the enemy.      The troops under my command were four companies (A, D, F, and G) of the Twenty-eighth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, three companies (C, I, and K) of the Thirteenth Massachusetts Volunteers, and three companies of the Third Wisconsin Regiment, numbering in all 600 men, and two pieces of cannon, under command of Captain Tompkins, of the Rhode Island Battery, and two pieces of the Ninth New York Battery, under Lieutenant Martin. About 100 men of the Massachusetts regiment were left on the north side of the Potomac River, and the two pieces of the Rhode Island Battery were placed on the Maryland Heights, one of the New York guns on the railroad opposite Harper’s Ferry, and the other to command the approach from Pleasant Valley, in Virginia, where three companies of rebel cavalry were stationed. The command of all the troops thus left I confided to Major Gould.      The object for which the river had been crossed having been accomplished, on Tuesday night I had determined to recross the river on Wednesday and permit the troops to return to their various regiments; but about 7 o’clock on the morning of the 16th my pickets stationed on the heights above Bolivar, extending from the Potomac to the Shenandoah River, about 2 ½ miles west of Harper’s Ferry, were driven into the town of Bolivar by the enemy, who approached from the west in three columns, consisting of infantry and cavalry, supported by artillery.      I was upon the ground in a few minutes, and rallied my pickets upon the main body of our troops in Bolivar. In a short time the action became general. The advanced guard of the rebels, consisting of several hundred cavalry, charged gallantly towards the upper part of the town, and their artillery and infantry soon took position upon the heights from which my pickets had been driven. The enemy’s three pieces of artillery were stationed on and near the Charlestown road where it crosses Bolivar Heights. They had one 32-pounder columbiad, one steel rifled 13-pounder, and one brass 6-pounder, all of which were served upon the troops of my command with great activity, the large gun throwing alternately solid shot, shell, and grape, and the others principally fuse shell.      While these demonstrations were being made in front a large body of men made their appearance upon Loudoun Heights, with four pieces of cannon and sharpshooters stationed at the most eligible points of the mountain, to bombard our troops, and greatly annoy us in the use of the ferry on the Potomac.  The commencement of the firing upon our front and left was almost simultaneous.      In order to prevent the enemy from crossing the Shenandoah, I detached a company of the Thirteenth Massachusetts Regiment, under command of Captain Shriber, for the defense of the fords on that river.  He took position near the old rifle works, and during the action rendered good service there. There then remained under my immediate command about 450 men. With these the fierce charge of the enemy’s cavalry was soon checked and turned back. A second and a third charge was made by them, increasing in impetuosity with each repetition, during which they were supported, in addition to the artillery, by long lines of infantry stationed on Bolivar Heights, who kept up a continuous firing.  They were repulsed each time with effect. Under this concentrated fire our troops held their position until 11 o’clock, when Lieutenant Martin, by my order, joined me with one rifled cannon which had been placed to cover the ferry, he having crossed the river with it under a galling fire of rifleman from Loudoun Heights.      I then pushed forward my right flank, consisting of two companies (A and G) of the Twenty-eighth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers.  They succeeded in turning the enemy’s left near the Potomac, and gained a portion of the heights. At the same time Lieutenant Martin opened a well-directed fire upon the enemy’s cannon in our front, and Captain Tompkins succeeded in silencing some of the enemy’s guns on Loudoun Heights. These services, simultaneously rendered, were of great importance, and the turning of the enemy’s flank being the key to the success of the action, I instantly ordered a general forward movement, which terminated in a charge, and we were soon in possession of the heights from river to river.  There I halted the troops, and from that position they drove the fugitives with a well-directed aim of cannon and small-arms across the valley in the direction of Halltown.  If any cavalry had been attached to my command the enemy could have been cut to pieces, as they did not cease their fight until they reached Charlestown, a distance of 6 miles.      Immediately after the capture of the heights Major Tyndale arrived with a re-enforcement of five companies of my regiment from Point of Rocks, two of which he ordered to report to Major Gould at Sandy Hook, and soon joined me with the others on the field.  The standard of the Twenty-eighth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers – the flag of the Union – was then unfurled on the soil of Virginia, and planted on an eminence of Bolivar Heights, and under its folds we directed the fire of our artillery against the batteries and forces on Loudoun Heights, and soon succeeded in silencing every gun and driving away every rebel that could be seen. The victory was complete. The loss of the enemy in killed and wounded is generally conceded to be about 150, which they carried back in wagons and on horses as rapidly as they fell. We took 4 prisoners, among whom is Rev. Nathaniel Green North, chaplain of Colonel Ashby’s command. He is said to have been present at every battle that has occurred in Virginia. The fine 32-pounder columbiad, mounted on an old-fashioned gun-carriage, was captured, together with a quantity of ammunition for it, consisting of ball, shell, and grape shot, for the transportation of which a wagon was used as a caisson. These were immediately transferred to the north side of the Potomac, and the gun is placed in position against its late proprietors. One of their small guns used at Bolivar Heights was disabled, having one of the wheels shot from the gun carriage by a well-directed shot from Lieutenant Martin. They succeeded in dragging it from the field.      Our loss is 4 killed, 7 wounded, and 2 taken prisoners, a list of whom is hereto attached. (Nominal list omitted.) The greater part of the loss occurred in the Wisconsin companies, who gallantly sustained the position of our left flank throughout the contest. One of the soldiers taken by the enemy was Private Edgar Ross, of Company C, Third Wisconsin Regiment, who was wounded in the action. The other, Corporal Beniah Pratt, of Company A, Twenty-eighth Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, was accidentally taken by a few of the enemy, whom he mistook for Massachusetts men, their uniform corresponding in all respects to that of the later. The four men who were killed were afterwards charged upon by the cavalry and stabbed through the body, stripped of all their clothing, not excepting their shoes and stockings, and left in perfect nudity. One was laid in the form of a crucifixion, with his hands spread out, and cut through the palms with a dull knife. This inhuman treatment incensed my troops exceedingly, and I fear its consequences may be shown in retaliatory acts hereafter.      I visited the iron foundry at Shenandoah City, and ascertained that it was used by the rebels for casting shot and shell of all kinds. I ordered it to be burned, which was done the same night. The acts of individual gallantry are so numerous in the whole command that it would be impossible to give each an appropriate mention, but I do not hesitate to say that every corps behaved with the coolness and courage of veteran troops.      It affords me pleasure to mention that Hon. Daniel McCook, father of General McCook, as an amateur soldier, gun in hand, volunteered and rendered much service during the engagement. I also mention like service rendered by Benjamin G. Owen, esq., of Saint Louis. Both of these gentlemen were greatly exposed during the action.      I am informed by authority deemed reliable that the enemy’s forces consisted of the following troops, viz: The Thirteenth and Nineteenth Mississippi Regiments, the Eighth Virginia Regiment of Infantry, Colonel Ashby’s regiment of cavalry, and Rogers’ Richmond battery of six pieces and one 32-pounder columbiad, all commanded by General Evans in person.      Bolivar Heights were taken at 1.30 p.m.  I directed our troops to rest there until 12 o’clock at night, when we fired a farewell shot into Halltown, and as there was no longer any necessity to remain on that side of the Potomac, our errand having been crowned with the fullest success, I marched my command to the Ferry, and in five hours it was safely landed in Maryland.  There being no immediate apprehensions of the enemy there, I ordered the Wisconsin companies to report to Colonel Ruger, their commander, in Frederick, and returned to this place with part of my regiment and the two guns of the New York battery, leaving Captain Tompkins’ guns and one company of my own regiment with Major Gould, to guard against any further outbreak.      A flag of truce was sent to me on the morning of the 17th by Colonel Ashby, commander of the rebel cavalry, with a letter dated at Charlestown, inquiring concerning Rev. Mr. North. He stated that, as Mr. North’s horse had gone home wounded, his family feared he had been killed. The colonel requested that, as he was a non-combatant, he hoped I would release him. The testimony against him from other sources not being quite so satisfactory, I have determined to retain him, and forward him with others to such destination as the general may designate. I received assurances from the bearer of the flag of truce that Corporal Pratt was well, and that every attention was being given to the wound of Private Edgar Ross, and that he did not consider his case a dangerous one.      On this morning a few of the enemy in citizens’ dress came secretly to Harper’s Ferry, by way of the Shenandoah road, burned Herr’s mill, from which a great portion of the wheat had been taken, and immediately retired.      The foregoing is a correct official statement of the engagement at Bolivar Heights October 16, 1861.                                                                                           JNO. W. GEARY Colonel Twenty-eighth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers. Capt. R. Morris Copeland,            Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.

Report of Major J. P. Gould, 13th Massachusetts Infantry.

Official Records (O.R.) of the War of the Rebellion; Series 1; Volume 5. Report of Maj. J. P. Gould, Thirteenth Massachusetts Infantry.     SIR:  At your request I write you what I saw and heard on Wednesday, October 16, [1861], the day of the Bolivar skirmish.  On the night previous – a delightful moonlight night – I went out on our line of picket guards, and did not return to the mill till 12 o’clock, when I bunked down in the counting-room and remained till 6 in the morning, when I arose, examined the remaining grain of the mill, the quarters of Company I, Thirteenth Massachusetts, near the mill; quarters of Companies K and C, near the ferry.  I then went upon Camp Hill, and visited all the public buildings where the Wisconsin and the Pennsylvania troops were quartered, and observed all things quiet, and was informed by the officer of the day that all had been quiet during the night.  Captain Bertram had served as officer of the day.      I then came across the river to the Maryland side to supervise the further progress of the boating of the wheat and laying the large cable across, for greater conveniences. Whilst taking breakfast at my quarters I heard a cannonading, and immediately sent an agent to learn of it; the firing was being done by our troops.  I was soon informed that the enemy were advancing.  I sent a telegram to the Point of Rocks to hold all cars in readiness to take troops here. I then repaired to the locks, and gave orders in regard to the boating, laying the cable, and relative to firing the cannon, if opportunity offered. By order of the colonel, sent for Captain Meyer’s company, and passed over the other side to supervise with regard to arrangements then necessary at the landing. I then received the order from the colonel to order up Major Tyndale and his force.  I returned and gave this order by telegraph.  At this time, learning that the cavalry were advancing from the woods, I ordered Captain Tompkins’ battery to fire upon them.  Again I passed over to Virginia, and passed most up Camp Hill, when I received an order by the colonel to send over two horses and more ammunition. This order I returned to execute. While effecting it Major Tyndale came up with his force. I took the liberty, as I said to him, to order over the river two-thirds of his force. He asked what the exact orders of the colonel were, for he wished to be governed by the colonel’s orders strictly, but afterwards the colonel sent for this part of the force. Whilst this force and the ammunition were passing the river the rebels fired upon them from the Loudoun Heights by rifle shots. I ordered one of our iron guns to fire upon them with canister; two shots silenced them.  I ordered one iron gun to play upon the guns on Loudoun Heights, from which they were throwing shells on to and over the mill, with slugs, and I learn that it seemed to have some good effect.  A large body of cavalry was seen in Loudoun, opposite Sandy Hook.  I ordered down half of a company of the Pennsylvania men, and the cavalry dispersed. The shells were thrown regularly from Loudoun Heights, till their cessation, over the mill and Hall’s Rifle Works, where were posted Company I and part of Company K of the Thirteenth Regiment.      At past 2 o’clock, after the firing from Loudoun Heights had ceased, the colonel ordered over the New York battery.  This order I received while going up Camp Hill to go on to field at Bolivar. The Rhode Island Battery continued to fire until I learned that his shell were falling short of the enemy and among our own men, when I ordered a close.      This comprises what I actually saw at a distance – the retreat and advance of our right.  It seemed to be a premeditated attack. Indeed, I learn since that it was much of a concerted affair. The names of the killed and wounded I have been unable to obtain. J. P. GOULD, Major.       Earlier I should have sent this statement; but, besides being quite unwell, there was much necessary and pressing business connected with the closing up of this adventure, every part of which needed my personal attention. But, from the accounts I see in the papers, I infer that there is no Major Gould at this post, and, if here, he is only an intruder; nor had he anything to do with getting the wheat.  Indeed, his name does not occur in a long whole-column article of to-day’s Baltimore paper. Let Caesar have his own. Most obediently,                                                                                                        J. P. GOULD. Col. JOHN W. GEARY.

Report of Captain Henry Bertram, 3rd Wisconsin Infantry, Company A.

Official Records (O.R.) of the War of the Rebellion; Series 1; Volume 5. Report of Capt. Henry Bertram, Third Wisconsin Infantry.                                         FREDERICK CITY, MD., October 18, 1861.      COLONEL:  I have the honor to report that on the 16th instant, while Company A, Third Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers, under my command, was in quarters at Harper’s Ferry, cannonading was heard early in the morning in the direction of Halltown; and soon after our pickets were driven in by the advancing enemy.  I formed company immediately, and moved out toward Bolivar; was there met by Colonel Geary, who ordered me to protect the left flank and road on the Shenandoah.      In obedience to this, I deployed company as skirmishers, left resting on the Shenandoah, the enemy mean time throwing shells upon us from Loudoun Heights.  Having but limited range of observation, I ascended the hill under which my men were covered, and, reconnoitering, saw a column of the enemy’s infantry, with Confederate colors flying, marching down the road to Bolivar, followed by a corps of artillerymen with a heavy piece of artillery.  On bringing forward my left flank I sent in a galling fire, just as the enemy had planted their cannon, covered by a large brick house from the fire of our battery on the Maryland Heights.  After sustaining our fire for some fifteen minutes the enemy retreated, taking with them their cannon. I followed in pursuit, a heavy ground and deep gully being between me and the enemy.  On coming to the road, I was joined by Lieutenant O’Brien with Company C, Third Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers, and moved on together under a heavy fire from our right and front, and took possession of the brick house, one company of the Thirteenth Massachusetts being in our rear.  After half an hour, the house not affording a favorable position to fire with much effect upon the enemy, we advanced upon the road toward the enemy, who had retreated to a ridge covered with timber; saw the enemy’s cannon in the road; charged upon it with parts of Companies A and C (about 40 men in all).  As we commenced, the enemy attempted to haul off their gun, but in their hasty attempt broke the axle-tree.  As we approached the gun we saw one of the men spiking it and the others left it and sought cover, when a tremendous fire upon us from a masked breastwork compelled us to seek cover.  We sustained and answered the fire for some fifteen minutes, saw our men falling, and were obliged to retreat, closely pursued by the enemy’s cavalry. We rallied, after falling back some 50 rods, and fired upon the enemy’s cavalry, driving them back and covering the retreat of our wounded and those who were aiding them off the field; then slowly retreated to the main body.      Company H, Third Regiment Wisconsin, having joined us, we formed a complete line of skirmishers from Bolivar main street to the Shenandoah, and awaited the arrival of artillery.  At 1 o’clock p.m., the artillery having arrived, we moved the line slowly forward, by command of Colonel Geary, firing as we advanced, at the enemy slowly falling back.  On our arrival at the outskirts of Bolivar we advanced rapidly, the enemy having retreated behind the hill; and passing in our advance the gun which had been disabled, we established our line on Bolivar Heights, the enemy having retreated to a belt of wood about three-quarters of a mile away in the direction of Halltown.  Captured the chaplain of one of the enemy’s regiments and sent him, along with the captured gun, to the ferry, by order of Colonel Geary.      In the charge upon the gun the following-named men of my command were killed and wounded, which was the only losses suffered by us in the action. (List shows 2 killed and 3 wounded).      I take this occasion to make favorable mention of the fearless and judicious conduct of Lieut. Ed. E. Bryant, of Company A, Third Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers, in the action.      I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,                                                 HENRY BERTRAM,               Captain, Commanding Company A, Third Reg’t Wis. Vols Col. JOHN W. GEARY, &c.

Report of Captain George J. Whitman, 3rd Wisconsin Infantry, Company H.

Official Records (O.R.) of the War of the Rebellion; Series 1; Volume 5. Report of Capt. George J. Whitman, Third Wisconsin Infantry.     I have the honor of making the following report to Colonel Geary, commanding at Harper’s Ferry October 16, 1861:      On the morning of October 9, 1861, at 4 o’clock Company H, with Companies A and C, of the Third Wisconsin Volunteers, left camp at Frederick City, and marched to the Junction, and took the cars for Sandy Hook; arrived there at 8 o’clock a.m.; crossed the river to Harper’s Ferry, and were quartered in Government buildings.  On the morning of the 10th had a slight skirmish with a company of cavalry.  The company was employed in moving wheat across the river and doing picket duty.      October 15, 30 men were detailed to do duty at the mill, and 23, under my command, detailed to act as a reserve, and stationed near the outposts on the Charlestown road.  On the morning of October 16, being officer of the day, went to headquarters, leaving First Sergeant J. T. Marvin in command.  At 7:30 o’clock the pickets were fired upon by the enemy advancing on the Charlestown road.  The reserve went to their support, and joining a company of the Pennsylvania Twenty-eighth, (Captain Copeland), [F], engaged the enemy’s cavalry, firing and falling back through the timber.  During this time the enemy were throwing shell from the hill beyond, which fell in their midst, and their infantry, advancing up the road, cut them off from their camp, and were obliged to leave their overcoats and blankets, which fell into the hands of the enemy.  Advancing up through Bolivar with the rest of the company (Wisconsin), joined by the reserve, deploying to the right and advancing up the hill, intending to flank under the protection of one battery on the other side of the river, but were ordered back to the village by Colonel Geary and then to fall back across the ravine.  Soon after were ordered to take position on the Shenandoah, to cut off the enemy’s advance on our left under continual fire from the enemy’s battery on Loudoun Heights until it was silenced by the battery on Maryland Heights. Remained there until the arrival of the New York Ninth Artillery, when we were ordered to join the line, and advanced to the ridge formerly occupied by our pickets, the enemy retreating over the ridge beyond; lay on our arms until 11 o’clock, when we were ordered back to and across the river.  Marched to Sandy Hook, and remained, waiting for a train to take us to Frederick, until 5.30 p.m.; took the train, and arrived at Frederick at 8 o’clock p.m.  October 17, 1861. Very respectfully,                                                                     GEO. J. WHITMAN,                              Captain Company H, Third Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers. Col. JOHN W. GEARY.

Report of Lieutenant Moses O'Brien, 3rd Wisconsin Infantry, Company C.

Official Records (O.R.) of the War of the Rebellion; Series 1; Volume 5. Report of Lieut. Moses O’Brien, Third Wisconsin Infantry.                                                                                                 October 18, 1861.             COLONEL :  I have the honor to report that on the 16th instant the company under my command – Company C, Third Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers – was quartered in town at Harper’s Ferry, and at about 7 o’clock a.m. a cannonading was heard, appearing to emanate beyond the heights known as the Bolivar Heights.  I forthwith ordered the company to prepare for action, and [as] soon as in ranks, I moved out upon the road in the direction of the firing.  Meeting Colonel Geary, was ordered by him to protect the left flank to the right and rearward of Captain Bertram’s Company (A), Third Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers, my right on the Halltown turnpike ; company into skirmish line.  Then, on reconnoitering, I observed a column of infantry and also a squadron of cavalry advancing toward Bolivar from the Shenandoah road, and also another column of infantry and cavalry and a heavy piece of artillery.  The enemy’s right was bearing down towards Captain Bertram.  I then advanced at double-quick to his assistance.  At this time the enemy commenced shelling us from a battery on Loudoun Heights.  The enemy gained the outskirts of the town of Bolivar and planted their gun behind a large brick house, well covered from our batteries, and supported by a large force of infantry.  I opened fire upon them just as they began [to] retreat from the house under a heavy fire from Captain Bertram; then advanced, and my line connected with Captain Bertram, as we gained possession of the brick house.  The enemy opened a heavy cross-fire upon us as we advanced upon the house from our right and front, their skirmishers being deployed along and behind a ridge northward of Bolivar.  Our musketry not having effect upon the enemy from the cover of the brick house, we deployed again to the left, and advanced along the turnpike toward the enemy.  Advancing, observed their gun planted ahead of us in the road and watched by artillerists; charged upon it, in concert with Captain Bertram, which the enemy perceiving, endeavored in haste to haul off their gun.  In so doing the axle-tree was broken, and they were forced to leave after spiking.             As we drew near the gun, the enemy being strongly intrenched to our right upon the ridge, opened upon us a terrible fire of musketry and rifle, under which we were forced to seek shelter of trees and hillocks and to lie upon our faces.  Not being supported, and the right flank not closing in to dislodge [the] enemy, we fell back out of the fire.  As we commenced retreat, the enemy’s cavalry dashed upon us, almost surrounding a portion of our small force.  I saw their danger, and ordered [the] foremost in retreat to rally to repel cavalry and cover [the] flight of our men.  They did so gallantly, and poured a volley into the cavalry that threw into confusion and drove them from the field, several saddles empty.  We then retreated into Bolivar upon main body, and held our ground under cannonade from enemy from Loudoun Heights and from high ridge beyond the town.  We waited the arrival of artillery, which came to our assistance. We then advanced in skirmish line toward enemy by Colonel Geary’s command. The enemy fled back under the fire of our artillery, and we advanced rapidly upon their position, they falling behind the ridge.  In our advance we passed the gun the enemy could not remove, and occupied the position on the ridge.  The enemy fell back upon Halltown, and were out of sight.               In our advance upon the brick house, Private Steward E. Mosher, Company C, was killed; and in the charge upon the gun, Private Henry Raymond, Company C, was killed, and Corporal George Gray and Corporal William H. Foster, of Company C, were each wounded in the leg, and Private Edgar Ross, of Company C, was wounded and taken prisoner, and Private Thomas Hader, Company C, slightly wounded in the leg, which comprise the whole loss of my command.      I was the only commissioned officer in the company.  My men behaved gallantly, evincing great bravery and coolness under galling fire. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,                                                             MOSES O’BRIEN,                               First Lieutenant of Company C, Third Wisconsin Volunteers. Col. JOHN W. GEARY, &c.

Confederate Lt. Colonel Turner Ashby's Report.

Official Records (O.R.) of the War of the Rebellion; Series 1; Volume 5. Report of Lieut. Col. Turner Ashby, C.S. Army.             CAMP EVANS, NEAR HALLTOWN, VA., October 17, 1861.      MY DEAR SIR:  I herewith submit the result of an engagement had with the enemy on yesterday (the 16th) at Bolivar Hill.  The enemy occupying that position have for several days been committing depredations in the vicinity of their camp.  Having at my disposal only 300 militia, armed with flint-lock muskets, and two companies of cavalry (Captains Turner’s and Mason’s) of Colonel McDonald’s regiment, I wrote to General Evans to co-operate with me, taking position upon Loudoun Heights, and thereby prevent re-enforcement from below, and at the same time to drive them out of the Ferry, where they were under cover in the buildings.             On the evening of  the 15th I was re-enforced by two companies of Colonel McDonald’s regiment (Captain Wingfield’s), fully armed with Minie rifles, and mounted; Captain Miller’s, about 30 men mounted, the balance on foot, armed with flint-lock guns.  I had one rifled 4-pounder gun, one 24-pounder gun badly mounted, which broke an axle in Bolivar, and I had to spike it.  My force upon the morning of the attack consisted of 300 militia, part of two regiments commanded by Colonel Albert, of Shenandoah, and Major Finer, of Page.  I had 180 of Colonel McDonald’s cavalry (Captain Henderson’s men), under command of Lieutenant Glynn; Captain Baylor’s mounted militia; Captain Hess, about 25 each.  The rifled gun was under command of Captain Avirett, the 24-pounder under Captain Comfield.             I made the attack in three divisions, and drove the enemy from their breastworks without loss of a man, and took position upon the hill, driving the enemy as far as Lower Bolivar. There the large gun broke down, and this materially affected the result.  The detachment from the large gun was transferred to the rifled piece, and Captain Avirett was sent to Loudoun Heights with message to Colonel Griffin.             The enemy now formed and charged with shouts and yells, which the militia met like veterans. At this moment I ordered a charge of cavalry, which was handsomely done, Captain Turner’s in the lead. In this charge 5 of the enemy were killed.  After holding this position for four hours the enemy were re-enforced by infantry and artillery, and we fell back in order to the position which their pickets occupied in the morning.  The position which Colonel Griffin held upon Loudoun was such as to be of very little assistance to us, not being so elevated as to prevent them from controlling the crossing.      My main force is now at Camp Evans, while I hold all the intermediate ground. The enemy left the Ferry last night, and are encamped upon the first plateau on Maryland Heights. My loss is 1 killed and 9 wounded. Report from the Ferry states the loss of the enemy at 25 killed and a number wounded.  We have 2 Yankee prisoners and 8 Union men co-operating with them.  We took a large number of blankets, overcoats, and about one dozen guns. I cannot compliment my officers and men too highly for their gallant bearing during the whole fight, considering the bad arms with which they were supplied and their inexperience.  I cannot impress too forcibly the necessity of perfect organization of my artillery and the forwarding at a very early day of the other guns promised. These guns are drawn by horses obtained for the occasion, and are worked by volunteers.  We are in want of cavalry arms and long-range guns, and would be glad to have an arrangement made to mount my men. I herewith submit Surgeon West’s report, (NOT FOUND) and cannot compliment him too highly, and respectfully submit his name as one worthy of an appointment. He is temporarily employed by me as a surgeon. Casualties:  Wounded, 13.             Your obedient servant,                                     TURNER ASHBY,             Lieutenant-Colonel, C.S. Army, Comdg. In Jefferson County. Hon. Mr. Benjamin, Acting Secretary of War.  P.S. – I am without ammunition for rifled cannon (4-pounder rifled to Parrott), also without friction primers.  I am without a regular quartermaster, and consequently have my movements greatly embarrassed.  If I am to continue with this command I would be glad to have the privilege to recommend for appointment, so that I can organize according to what I believe most efficient condition.

Bolivar Heights, Part 3.  Letters from Company C.

  Company C at Williamsport, Md. photographed by George Crosby, Co. F.  This photo was in W.H. Forbush's diary.

 
     This first battle made quite an impression on the boys of Company C, 13th Mass., who participated in the charge through Bolivar with the Wisconsin companies.  Boston Newspapers printed some descriptions of the battle from correspondents' letters home.  

Three Letters from Boston Newspapers.

(Boston Saturday Evening Gazette, October 26, 1861). (Letter transcriptions taken from the now defunct web-site "Letters of the Civil War"). THIRTEENTH MASSACHUSETTS             Sandy Hook, Oct. 17th, 1861      In my last I gave you an account of Co. C’s battle; to-day I am able to give you the particulars of the hard fought battle of yesterday, in which Co. C figured largely.  About 7 A.M. we heard the booming of the rebel guns driving in our outposts, and our company was soon formed awaiting orders.  Col. Geary came dashing down ordering us forward to the centre, which was the town of Bolivar.  We moved up the turnpike, meeting one of the Wisconsin and one of the Philadelphia companies retreating. We moved steadily on.  Lieut. Jackson urged us, as we marched forward, to remember that now was the time for Massachusetts to show herself, and to do our duty.     When we arrived at the square, we saw the rebels entering the town.  We were immediately deployed and ordered to cover ourselves as much as possible.  In a moment we opened fire upon them from behind fences, houses, trees, stones, and every conceivable cover.  We steadily advanced, being supported by two companies that had before retreated. On, on we went, pouring in the deadly hail, the enemy slowly retreating before us, until, finally, they broke and fled into the woods.  There they rallied.     We had advanced beyond the town, and they answered our fire in good earnest.  We were ordered to move back under the cover of houses.  The rebels then gave a cheer and advanced upon us, their infantry on the turnpike, supported by cavalry on their right flank.  We slowly retreated before them, until we came to a cross street with a brick house on either corner.  We were ordered to enter the houses and fire from the windows, as we must make a stand there.  Just then Twitchell was wounded in the elbow, and Lieut. Jackson, sheathing his sword, took his gun, prepared to make it tell.  We made our stand, and poured a deadly fire into the infantry.  They had their flag flying, and were advancing in column.  Our bullets told every time, and they began to waver.  They then turned and fled into the woods. The cavalry were met by Co. A of the Wisconsin regiment, who were just coming up.  They also turned and fled, and the Wisconsin boys with a cheer followed them, our company with answering cheers joining in the pursuit.  I thought the day was ours, when a most withering fire came from the woods, and we were forced to fall back to our former position.  The Wisconsin company was considerably cut up, but we escaped, with the single exception of Corporal Stimpson, who was wounded in the foot by a musket ball.  It was a miracle that no more were not hurt, for the bullets seemed to fill the air, and lodged in the fences and houses all about us. Then there was a lull in the battle, which did not last long.  The infantry started out again and engaged us, while the cavalry tried to outflank us.  The enfields began to speak again, and Co. A, Pennsylvania, engaged the cavalry on our right flank, while the Wisconsin boys held the left.  The Colonel came riding up telling us to hold on a little longer, for reinforcements were coming.  We gave a cheer and drove the enemy to the woods, where they ceased firing upon us, and we were glad enough o rest.  They then began to shell us, the missiles skipping down the street.  We only laughed at them. They fired some twenty rounds at us, which were harmless, when were heard the rattling of chains coming up the street.  It was our cannon and reinforcements.  We gave a cheer and the gun spoke for itself.  We were then deployed, our left resting on the gun, our right swung around to sweep the woods.  Their gun was silenced by the second discharge from our own, and we steadily advanced.  Closing upon their center they retreated before us, and the day was ours.  We saluted our victory with three rousing cheers.     We were then ordered to half-left wheel, double quick, and as we came upon the brow of the hill we saw them leave across the valley. We gave them a parting volley, rallied upon the centre, and were first upon the ground the enemy had held.  We gave three more cheers, which made the woods ring out a merry peal.  The gun was immediately advanced and poured destruction upon the retreating columns.  They left a 24-pounder upon the field and a wagon load of ammunition.  The fight lasted eight hours by the watch, and we burnt on an average forty ounces of powder !     The Colonel said he had been in fifteen battles and never saw so hot as one before.  Several times it looked blue enough.  There we were, three companies of infantry fighting six times our number, and they supported by cavalry and artillery.  Our boys fought like tigers; not one backed down; every one did his best.  I have since learned that there were 2000(?) infantry, 500 cavalry and three pieces of artillery- one rifled, one smooth, and the smooth 24 – pounder which we took.  It is no wonder we had to fight, and the greatest wonder is how we held our own.  They also had artillery on Loudoun Mountain, it kept pouring in shot and shell upon us, and at one time our own artillery on Maryland Heights shelled us, as we were falling back, thinking we were the enemy.       There were many side scenes. Stimpson had a hand – to – hand fight with one of the cavalry, who he bayoneted, illustrating the bayonet drill in which the company has been exercised.  Corporal Marshall was chased by a mounted officer while he was assisting one of the wounded Wisconsin boys off.  The officer proved to be Col. Ashby, the commander of the rebels, which accounted for the lull in the battle alluded to.  We have since learned the he was not killed, but will probably have to keep in the house for some time.  There were many other similar scenes.         We have heard there were 150 of them killed and wounded.  The enfield rifle is the piece that tells.  I heard one of the rebels exclaim, “I wish to God we had their guns!”  We found the men they had killed in their charge upon the Wisconsin Co. A, stripped and stabbed through and through with bayonets. That is the way they desecrated the dead.  So much for the chivalrous Virginians !  We vowed vengeance if we ever meet with them again.      We camped upon the field, lying down just as we were, and it needed no rocking to put us to sleep.  At midnight we were aroused, and ordered to move over the river.  As we heard the enemy had received large reinforcements we took their gun with us, and it is now ready to vent its spite upon its former master.     Twitchell and Stimpson are the only two hurt, and the doctor says they are not very seriously.  The Wisconsin boys suffered most.  They had six killed, ten wounded, and one is missing.  Companies I and K were not engaged, and did not burn a cartridge.  They were on the Shenandoah.  As we gathered around our camp-fires, almost every one having a bullet mark upon his clothes to show, I could not help thanking the God of Battles for his mercy towards us.  It seems more like a dream than a reality, as I look back over the scenes of yesterday.  The 16th of October will long be remembered by us all.  It was just the end of three months service;  a kind of quarterly settlement, and the Paymaster came to-day to balance accounts and make our previously useless pocket-books once more serviceable.  It is doubly a settlement day, for we settled the account of the rebels and the United States settled ours, but in a very far more pleasing to us and our poor washerwomen, who has been looking for that never coming next week, until she, like ourselves, began to think it was the next week after never.    R.

(Boston Daily Courier, October 22, 1861.) (Letter transcriptions taken from the now defunct web-site "Letters of the Civil War"). October 17, 1861 THIRTEENTH MASSACHUSETTS.                 Harper’s Ferry, Oct. 17, 1861. Dear Father:     As you probably received the news of the Battle we have just had at Bolivar, I write to inform you that I was in it, and came out of it without even a flesh wound.  We went at it early in the morning, and were under fire all day.     The town (or village) of Bolivar is situated in a hollow, and the enemy occupied the wooded heights on all sides, except the rear.  When the battle commenced, we had nearly two hundred and fifty men, all told, and in the end of the contest five hundred, having been reinforced during the fight.  The enemy had the 2d Mississippi Rifles, with five hundred calvary and seven hundred reserve, and three heavy pieces of artillery. But with our little force, it was “Victory or Death,” for we could not retreat, and as we charged up the streets, the Minnie balls, shot and shell were whistling about our ears and bursting over our heads and among us.     But we didn’t mind the shot and shells, for we could hear and see them coming, and dodge them, especially the round shot, which were fired at us from Loudon Heights. – for the guns from which they were fired were about a mile off, and the force of the balls was nearly spent when they reached us.  And we could see, by the same which hung to them, about where they would strike.  It was the Minnie balls that did about all the mischief, and, as we, Co. C, ran up the street to gain the shelter of a brick house, these Minnie balls whistled about our heads, and pattered about the houses and fences like hailstones.  It seemed as though the hands of Providence was in it, that no more of us fell. I found one poor fellow who had been shot, and after he was dead, had been stripped of all his clothing and then stabbed three of four times in the breast, with bayonets, otherwise hacked up! While some of us were behind a brick house, firing as we could get chances, a fellow got too far around the corner when a bullet took him right in the heart, and he fell and stiffened out and died without a groan.  Just after that, a company of calvary rode passed, “in grand style,” and we gave them the honor of a “salute,” that emptied a good many of their saddles. Under cover of the woods, we took a thirty-two pounder of the enemy.  It was a splendid victory.  We occupied the ground that night, and this morning recrossed over to the Maryland side of the river; and as the enemy have been largely reinforced, we are expecting every moment to be shelled out of this place. Our lost in the battle is four killed outright, two missing and nine wounded.  The loss of the enemy, estimated by a woman who saw the bodies of the dead and wounded, that were carried past her house, was not less than 150. Thinking it might be interesting to you, I have thus given you a little account of this battle.                 Your son, A.W.

(Chelsea Telegraph and Pioneer, November 9, 1861.) (Letter transcriptions taken from the now defunct web-site "Letters of the Civil War"). November 9, 1861. THIRTEENTH MASSACHUSETTS. HISTORY OF A SECESSION BULET. Was probably stolen from one of Uncle Sam’s arsenals, and fired by a  traitor from a purloined rile, also the property of our loyal uncle; it was aimed at the life of Corporal Marshall, of Company C, 13th Regt. Mass. Volunteers, while gallantly fighting for his country at the battle of Bolivar; but, instead of tearing the flesh or drinking the blood of the brave soldier, it stuck his invulnerable rifle, and became flattened on one side of its cone; then, glancing off from the corporal’s rifle, it passed through the edge of Serg’t Sanderson’s cap, and, striking a stone, fell, by  the law of gravitation, like a Confederate bond, buried in secession mud.  It was picked up by private Seabury, and has been sent home by Corporal Marshall, together with several other trophies of the fight (such as Odd Fellows’ Regalias, saddlebags of a certain Dr. Claggett, surgeon in a rebel regiment), and is now on the editor’s table, a very harmless piece of lead. All of which aforesaid history is certified by Lieut. Jackson, Comm. Co. C, 13th Reg’t. M.V. Addenda. – We learn that Corporal Marshall was, previous to the war, a conductor on the Chelsea Horse Railroad.  During the engagement above referred to, Col. Ashly, a S. Carolinian, attempted to cut down Corp. M. with sword; but his trusty rifle saved his life a second time, by bringing the rebel officer to the ground, corpse.

Letter of Captain Jackson, Company C,  to Colonel Leonard.

     Members of Company C, and their new Captain, William H. Jackson, were the first local heroes of the regiment; lauded for their participation in the “Battle of Bolivar Heights;” the first engagement between Confederate troops and the 13th Mass.  Although companies I & K were at the scene, all glory went to the Boston boys of Company C.  The camp at Williamsport was named “Camp Jackson” in their honor.  The following letter of Capt. Jackson to Colonel Leonard describes the performance of his company at the battle.

"GLC03393.22  W.A. Jackson to Colonel Leonard, 21 October 1861.  (The Gilder Lehrman Collection. Not to be reproduced without written permission.)" W.  H.  Jackson     Sandy Hook  Oct 21, 1861 My Dear Col.         I am happy that you are pleased with the manner in which, we conducted ourselves on the 16th, long to be remembered to all who participated in that hard fought Battle.  My boys behaved more like old veterans than raw troops. Not one of them flinched, and at one time we made an advance through an open field under the direct fire of the enimy.  Everyone, loaded and fired the same as on drill, our Cool dareing, struck terror into the enimy, for the moment we opened fire they fled like sheep.   They can’t stand our enfileds.  I heard one esclaim I wish to God we had their guns.  Would’nt we lick them.  At one time it did’nt seem possible for us to hold them (the Rebels) in check.  They advanced upon us Infantry in the Centre Colors flying, (The first rebel flag I have seen flying), on the right the Cavalry, on the left the Artillery.  1.24 to 1.6 to Smooth 1.68 rifles the Manner they moved showed they were determined.  We waited until they were about 100 yds off when the enfields began to speak from every window, post, tree, corner, stone, and even some of my boys laying flat in the street, they wavered, the officers tried to encourage them to advance. But no they turned and fled.  The Cavalry seeing the infantry retreating and Co A Wis empting the saddles rapidly, they turned and fled also, and the way the Artillery left double quick would have pleased you.  We advanced up to the edge of the woods when a most terrific fire poured out, we all layed flat upon our faces, if we had stood up, their would have been some recruiting to do in Company C.  We gradually fell back into the town, as we found our rifles were best at long range.  We could shoot them when they could not hit for the simple reason that most of them had the old flint musket which fired 1 bullet & 3 buck shot and would not kill at over a hundred yards while our own would kill them at five hundred.  I have not the space to go into further details  Suffice it to say that it was little hotter than is healthy for a man of my build, this laying on our faces and firing is a new tactic to the Southerners, they thought they had killed us when we layed down but soon found their mistake.  I must speak of our last advance because it was good. When the cannon arrived the Col ordered me to take the right.  I deployed my men on left file, and advanced my right making a faster step which gave the Company a slow left-wheel the left only advancing as the Cannon did.  The Wisconsin boys, did the same on the left and three of Col Gearys Comps (companies) which had just arrived the Centre. When we had advanced with the piece within two hundred yds of the enimy I gave a left- wheel double quick.  Away went the enimy, three cheers they are retreating said I, and we made the woods ring with the Merry Sound, still pouring our deadly hail into the retreating Columns. I then rallied on Centre, and advanced double quick and won the field.  Company on the ground the enimy had so recently occupied.

Part VII - Epilogue

 
     In 1856, at age 36, Geary was appointed Governor of ‘Bloody Kansas.’  In three months time, using Federal troops, he was able to put an end to the bushwhacking & murder prevalent in that territory since 1854.  Prior to this appointment he was the first mayor of San Francisco.  There he performed a similar task in bringing order to the streets of that city where vigilante gangs roamed freely.  In the Mexican War he led a charge at Chapultepec.  Perhaps it was these accomplishments that brought him so much newspaper attention in the fall of 1861 as Colonel of the 28th Pennsylvania Volunteers.
 
      In the following letter Major Gould expresses his dissatisfaction with the chain of command to Colonel Leonard..

Letter of Major Gould to Colonel Leonard

"GLC03393.04  Major Gould to colonel Leonard, 23 October 1861.  (The Gilder Lehrman Collection.  Not to be reproduced without written permission.)" Harpers Ferry Locks Md. Oct. 23, 1861 Col. Samuel H. Leonard,                                  Sir,      I have received letters by the hand of Lieut. Brown and by Mail.      The news of the Edwards Ferry Battle yesterday much affected us.  Col. Geary’s Command was ordered to the Point of danger.  He left four Companies on picket for his whole line, and one Company of my command to replace his at Knoxville.  I have ordered C. Co. down there, And that Co. went on picket thru last night in part, So that my little force here is much extended.      I have as yet no intimation that the line of general Command here is to be changed.  Tho Col. G. ordered me to picket to Knoxville, I have done so in obedience to his orders.  Since I have been here I have received some orders from you and have deemed my duty to report our condition as a corps to you.  Col. Geary has required a daily report to him, of all things seen, heard and done, and he has given most of my orders.  Gen. Banks has asked me to report to him and he has sent me quite frequent orders.  During the Wheat season, that is during our harvesting, he required me to report to him daily.  He gave me the orders to take the grain after I had informed him that it was there.  Col. G. knew nothing of it.  And he did not come up here till Monday morning, when the Wheat had been mostly bro’t over.  Gen. Banks has sent me orders as tho this was a distinct Military Post.  It ought to be, - but Col. G. has called it a detachment under his especial Charge.      I am now the only field officer between Antietam and above and below Point of Rocks.  For the reason that this has not been a Post by itself really, it has been very embarrassing.   Should this section be placed in your division it would be much better, save that from the surface of Country it is now naturally connected with the down river department.  If you had telegraph connected with Frederick, you could communicate here, and vs. for I have a machine and operator at my Hed Quarters.      My rations are to be drawn from Col. Geary’s Quartermaster still, Altho the camp there is broken up.      The most that I can say about this post is, that it has been a very busy one.  I have worked constantly at the business of it for three weeks for from 16 to 20 hours per day.  The men have worked hard and nobely and uncomplainingly.  With regard to who wants our glory and credit, I would say you are aware there are two classes of men in our little world.   One goes quietly and faithfully to the performance of his duties.  Another blusters about, and sets all sails, imagines that his presence sustains the world, and that everybody else puffs to fill his sails.  If one half of what is said in the Newspapers were true, this is certainly a great country we live in.      I merely say to this, what I have said before, deliver me from much Newspaper comment.  Yet every man should have his due.  ‘Give to Ceasar the things that are Ceasars.’ I take the liberty to say that the battle was won by the hard laber of the Wisconsin boys and the Mass men.  The Pa. men inclined to fall back.  And but for our men the battle would have been lost.  And yet the papers speak only of the Pa.  No one of the 13th had anything to do with it.       Who was ordered to take the grain, and metals, who did the work, and made the necessary arrangements. Who fought of the day of battle – who stood a shelling from Loudon Heights for several hours, who had command of all the Artillery.      Who was it that didn’t fall back.  Where were the killed and wounded?  A correct answer to these questions would solve the whole question of the fight.  And yet I was getting over some wheat on the next day, and the next day and had the Confederates not come in on the morning they did, I should have removed all I had intended to remove.  I only employed citizens at the mill after the day of battle.  I should supposed that on that day when the Confederates came in the second time, that some body would have claimed the credit and yet rebels were beaten off from doing their hellish designs.  Who did it then.  A brave man should… (The last part of this letter is unfortunately missing from the collection.)

      There is some truth to Major Gould’s allegations of headline grabbing, for Lieutenant Charles B. Fox of Company K complained about the same thing in a letter to his father.  Oddly enough, Fox thought Major Gould might be guilty of this same behavior.  More likely it was Captain Shriber seeking to make a name for himself in the papers.

Letter of Lieutenant Charles B. Fox, October 6th, 1861.

Charles Barnard Fox to Rev. Thomas Bayley Fox, letterbook, 6 October 1861, Fox Family Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society; used with permission. Harper’s Ferry Lock Oct. 6th/61. Reports are made to Col. Leonard without names and I presume he has no idea whether I have been working myself sick – which is about the case – or whether I have loafed all the time.  There is a regular system of puffing here which I will have nothing to do with.  Friday the Baltimore Clipper had an article, written probably at the hint of some officer, claiming for Co. I, Capt Schriber, and Maj. Gould, the credit for seizing the cannon at this Post and the erection of breastworks and defences.  Major Gould was hardly once at the Post, in fact part of the time he was not in command, Capt Schriber selected some of the sites for the defenses and some I recommended and he concurred in, but four fifths of the work, including all the earthwork and the two principal breastworks, was done by Co. K.  the guns were taken and moved by Co. K, and are now worked by them, and all this, with the exception of moving one of the guns, under my direction.    Some of our men were mad enough especially when the same thing appeared in a Frederick City paper, and wanted me to correct it.  I told them that I should remain a 2d Lieut. to eternity, if I could not get reputation except by publishing through myself or friends that I had simply done my duty -  Skirmishes here are magnified into battles in print, be-[cause] Captains wish to be Colonels or Colonels – Brigadiers.  Next accounts, and the whole vanishes.  Don’t think that this troubles me at all. I laugh in my sleeve at it, but just such things keep us this side of the Potomac.

     Colonel Geary did indeed make a name for himself during the war, becoming first, an impressive fighting General and after the war, Governor of Pennsylvania.  Major Gould and Lieutenant Fox continued to serve their country quietly & honorably; Major Gould eventually sacrificed his life for the cause.

Captain Blackmer, Company K.

Letter of Captain Blackmer, October 5th 1861.

Westboro Transcript; October 5th, 1861.      Letter from Capt. Blackmer. – The Captain has written a letter to Zion’s Herald, from which we make some extracts, showing the character of the man, and the spirit which actuates him in this contest: ‘Our journeyings up and down the state of Md. have reminded me of the travels of the ‘Children of Israel,’ while wandering in the wilderness, only that no bread was collected in the fields about the camp morning after morning as it was by them; and which led, preserved and fed them, as our guide preserver and support.’ ‘The evidences of the destruction of public property at Harper’s Ferry lie directly under my eye as I write:  the blackened walls of buildings and the charred timbers of bridges present a truly desolate appearance.  We have begun to feel the force of the fact that we are not merely playing soldier.  We have had some of the din of battle and smell of powder, though we have achieved no remarkable victory.  Squadrons of the enemy’s cavalry venture over the hills and down to the river opposite our picket guards, firing upon them frequently; and we return the fire, - of course.’ Much complaint has been made by friends writing home about our scanty fare. I am satisfied it has been all that could have been expected under the circumstances.  With a regiment of inexperienced men and officers, to a great extent without practical knowledge of their whole duty, it is not to be expected that every thing will be as well arranged as it other-wise.  But as the company officers become acquainted with what is expected of them in supplying their companies, and the men learn to appreciate rather than curse the Quartermaster, the thing will be all made right.' 'From morning till night (and from night till morning some of the time), my whole time and powers are taxed to their utmost.  But think not there is no time for rest, and for mental and moral culture.' 'I feel a greatly increased interest in the interests of the church, and hope I may be spared to give full proof of my ministry in the work to which God has seen fit to call me, and for which the church has set me apart.  I cannot describe to you the sacrifice it seems to me to be so separated from all those Christian sympathies and associations, as well as religious privileges to which I have been so long accustomed. 'I often think of the dear little flock in Westboro and pray for their prosperity.  If I can be spared to return it would be a great satisfaction to me to labor among them as I used to do only more faithfully." (digital transcription by Brad Forbush).

     The day after the battle at Bolivar Heights Captain Blackmer, Company K, resigned and went home.  His hasty departure brought into question his character.  Austin Stearns wrote about Blackmer in his memoirs, “Three Years with Company K” (p. 12):

      “Of Captain Blackmer, I have but a word to say.  He entered at the big end of the horn, with a loud flourish, declaring he would “wade in blood to his ears,” and then in three months came out at the little end, from a hole too small to be seen with the naked eye.”  

Another passage, (p. 37):

      “I have said that the courage of our officers was not to be questioned, neither do I now intimate any such thing, but the day after the fight spoken of above [Bolivar Heights] our Capt. sent in his resignation and left immediately for home, without waiting for it's acceptance or even telling his own brother that he was going.

     We as a company was glad to get rid of him, for he was on of the smallest specimens of an officer I ever saw and in the three years I saw some pretty small ones”

     Second Lieutenant Charles B. Fox, Company K, seemed to agree with Stearns’ assessment of Captain Blackmer's character.  He mentions the captain in some letters home to his father.

Letters of Lt. Charles B. Fox, Oct. 19th, & Nov. 4th, 1861.

Charles Barnard Fox to Rev. Thomas Bayley Fox, letterbook, 19 October 1861, Fox Family Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society; used with permission. Harper’s Ferry Lock Oct. 19th 1861.      Capt. Blackmer has resigned his commission and returned home- Before this reaches you he will probably be in Westboro.  The reasons which he assigns for this act are connected with his ministerial position, and if valid now, should have prevented him from accepting office at all.  There never has been any sympathy between Capt. B. and myself.  I have always, and I think with good reason, doubted his sincerity in many ways.  The resignation is no benefit to me as Lieut. Bacon is too young to receive a Captain’s Commission and the appointment will therefore come from another company, I feel very anxious about the result, for I think the position and success of our men as a company, depends on their having a firm, decided and strict officer, one who they can respect.  I am sorry the promotion does not take a different course, as I might have made a chance for John.  I sent you yesterday by Adam’s Express $70. – I sacrificed about $36 – because I would not certify on honor that I had not employed a soldier as a servant.  The pay rolls were made out allowing us for a private servant, but we were required to certify as above, which I would not or rather, could not do, so I let the amount slide, in the opinion of other officers, foolishly.

Charles Barnard Fox to Rev. Thomas Bayley Fox, letterbook, 4 November 1861, Fox Family Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society; used with permission. Williamsport, Md. Nov. 4th 1861. We are, as you will see per journal, part of the Advance Guard of the Army of the Upper Potomac – but our nearest railroad and express is Hagarstown, six miles distant, on a branch of the Penn. Central R.R.  Our mail comes to this point daily, and I hope to receive letters without quite so much delay.  You some what miss understood the case of my servant.  Warren is a soldier, regularly enlisted, sworn and mustered, and receives his pay, clothing and rations from the U.S.  Before we can draw the above items for a private servant, we are required to certify on honor, that we have not employed a soldier in that capacity – Of course I did not draw the pay, for in so doing I should have done just what the Government intend to prevent, drawn double pay for the same work.  The reasons of my severe remarks concerning Capt. Blackmer are, that he “did declare on his honor” that “he had not during any part of the time employed a soldier as a servant” when he had done so during the whole of it; and that his constant habit of making vulgar and obscene jokes and remarks before his officers and the young men around them, prevented me from respecting him as a man or clergyman.  I have lived a rough life in many respects, but I can appreciate and honor an honest man, and fully as heartily can despise and denounce a hypocrite.  Capt. Blackmer has been reported to Hd Qrs. As “absent without leave” and will either be ordered to rejoin his company or dis-honorably discharged.  Young Rice, to whom either you or mother referred is a fine fellow, one of the most intelligent and best boys in our company, always ready for duty, and always performing it to the best of his knowledge and ability.  During the Bolivar fight Co.I, was for the most part with us, not being in the thick of the rifle fight, but taking their shells quietly with us in the morning-  Promotion, which you speak of, of course pleases every one, but I had much rather do my duty faithfully in my present position, that fail, even if only in my own estimation in a higher.  Jackson has received his commission as Capt. of Co. C.

     Austin Stearns concludes his narrative of the nine weeks spent at the ferry:

     “Nothing more of an exciting nature happened during our stay at the Ferry.  The weather was now quite cool, fires were needed.  Stoves were procured from the Ferry, and coal from the boats as they passed along down the canal.  Quite a number of the boys were sick with chills and fever.  The labor we performed was immence.”

     On Thursday, October 31, 1861, the three detached companies re-joined the rest of the regiment at Williamsport, Maryland.

 © Bradley M. Forbush, 2008.