To the West Woods: The Correspondence of Henry Ropes, 20th Massachusetts, Entry 8.

This is the eighth entry in the correspondence of Lieutenant Henry Ropes to his family between September 3 and October 5, 1862. Ropes was a Second Lieutenant in Company K of the 20th Massachusetts, Dana’s Brigade, Sedgwick’s Division, II Corps.

Camp on Battlefield near Sharpsburg, Md.

Saturday, 20th September 1862.

My dear Father.

I wrote to you a pencil note yesterday just to tell you of my safety &c. We have had a really terrific battle. Our Division was formed in three lines, the first line Gorman's Brigade,^⁠1 the second ours,^⁠2 the third Burn's.^⁠3 The principal musketry firing was done of course by the first line. We were under a heavy fire, however, and suffered from Artillery while advancing.^⁠4 We drove the enemy before us with tremendous loss on both sides. The slaughter was horrible, especially close to the Hagerstown turnpike where the

Detail of photograph of the west side of Hagerstown Pike.
Alexander Gardner, September 20, 1862. Library of Congress.

enemy made a stand by the fences.^⁠5 We finally advanced down a slope, beyond which the enemy held a cornfield and farmhouse with barn and outbuildings, all on an opposite slope.^⁠6 The enemy had Cannon planted on the top and constantly swept us down with grape and Shrapnell shell.^⁠7 Our line was advanced close to the first, exposing us to an equal fire, while we could not fire at all because of our first line. ^⁠8The third line was finally advanced close to the second; all this time we stood up and were shot down without being able to reply. Sedgwick^⁠9 and Dana^⁠10 were shot, and we had no one to command the Division.^⁠11 The enemy in the meantime came round on our left and rear, and poured in a terrible crossfire. Sumner^⁠12 came up in time to save the Division and ordered us to march off by the right flank. We did so, but the left Regiments gave way in confusion, the enemy poured in upon our rear, and now the

Edwin Vose Sumner  (1797-1863)
Library of Congress.

slaughter was worse than anything I have ever seen before. Sumner walked his horse quietly along waving his hand and keeping all steady near him. Although the Regiments in rear of us were rushing by us and through our ranks in the greatest confusion, we kept our Company perfectly steady, did not take a single step faster than the regular marching order, and brought off every man except those killed and wounded, who of course were left.^⁠ Rickett's regular Battery^⁠14 and some Regiments drawn up at angles to us stayed the enemy, and the broken Regiments reformed in the rear. Our Brigade suffered awfully, the 7th Michigan has only four Officers left.^⁠15 The 42nd and 59th New York Regiments broke and gave way most disgracefully^⁠16, our Regiment fell into perfect order as soon as we halted, and was immediately advanced to the front, and our Company and Company I sent out on picket. We staid on picket till yesterday morning when, we were advanced as skirmishers and found the enemy had evacuated. We had heard them moving all night and had given constant information of it, and were sure they were retreating.^⁠17 Now we are camped on a part of the battlefield. I hear that McClellan is pursuing the enemy ^⁠18and that Sumner's Corps is left behind here. We are all quiet and are burying the dead &c.

A Pioneer of our Regiment, by name Bean,^⁠19 wishes me to send word of his safety and good health to a Miss Hill who is at the same water cure that Louisa is at.^⁠20 Will you please ask Louisa to do so?

Of our Regiment Dr. Revere was shot dead on the field while dressing a wounded man's leg.^⁠21 His body was immediately rifled of everything of the least value. Col. Palfrey badly wounded in the shoulder, taken prisoner and released, or rather left behind.^⁠22 Capt. Holmes shot through the neck,^⁠23 and Capt. Hallowell in the arm;^⁠24 Milton slightly in three places;^⁠25 Lt. Col. Revere in the arm.^⁠26 The losses of other Regiments of the Division are enormous.^⁠27 

Shall try to write again soon.

Love to Mother.

Your affectionate son

Henry.



Source Note

The source for Henry Ropes’ correspondence is the three volume transcription of Ropes outbound correspondence to his father, mother, and his brother, John C. Ropes. The original transcription can be found at the Rare Books and Manuscripts Department, Boston Public Library.

Henry Ropes was killed at Gettysburg on July 3 and from that point on, John C. Ropes undertook a life-long pursuit to memorialize his brother’s life and the regiment’s history. The transcription volumes are the center piece of John C. Ropes work and his legacy. Each of the three transcribed volumes are organized chronologically: Volume 1 is Henry Ropes’ correspondence to his father and mother, and Volume 2 and 3 to his brother, John C. Ropes. For more on the Ropes correspondence, see Richard F. Miller’s excellent essay on historical bibliography at pages 495-499 in his superlative study on the 20th Massachusetts in Richard F. Miller, Harvard’s Civil War: A History of the Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (Hanover and London: University Press of New England, 2005). Any errors in transcribing and annotating the selected correspondence are mine.

Notes


¹ Willis Gorman (1816-1876), led the first line of Sedgwick’s Division. The 1st Minnesota anchored the right, and moving to the left, the 82nd New York, 15th Massachusetts. The 34th New York had followed the Smoketown Road during the advance and were situated further south at the Dunker Church. For more on the advance of Sedgwick’s Division, see, Ezra A. Carman, The Maryland Campaign of September 1862, Vol. II: Antietam. Thomas G. Clemens, ed. (California: Savas Beatie, 2012), pp. 202-215.
² Brig. Gen. Napoleon Dana (1822-1905), West Point (1842), situated part of the second line close behind Gorman’s Brigade. The 19th Massachusetts, 20th Massachusetts, and the 59th New York were brought up behind  Dana’s Brigade. At the same time, and on the left of the line, Dana attempted to get the 42nd New York and the 7th Michigan to change front in order to meet the advance of the brigades of Jubal Early, William Barksdale, and G.T. Anderson moving in from the south part of the West Woods.
³ Col. William Wallace Burns (1825-1892), West Point (1847), led the Philadelphia Brigade until a wound received at Savage Station on June 29 forced him to take sick leave from July 10 to October 8. Brigadier Gen. Oliver O. Howard (1830-1909), West Point (1854), commanded the brigade at Antietam and formed the 71st Pennsylvania on the right, then the 106th and 69th Pennsylvania, and the 72nd on the left. While the 71st, 69th, and 106th maintained a fairly contiguous front, the 72nd Pennsylvania had drifted further south and were to the left of the 7th Michigan from Dana’s brigade. The 72nd’s  left came in a few yards north of the Dunker Church and closer to the 34th New York of Gorman’s Brigade. See Cullum’s Register for biographies of Burns and Howard. For more on the Philadelphia Brigade in the West Woods see Ezra A. Carman, The Maryland Campaign of September 1862, Vol. II: Antietam. Thomas G. Clemens, ed. (California: Savas Beatie, 2012), pp. 202-215.
⁴ Brigade and divisional reports from diaries and letters mention taking artillery fire while advancing across open fields from the East to the West Woods. Some recent research suggests that Hardaway’s, Carter’s and Boyce’s batteries operating at that time in the vicinity of the Sunken Road may have been responsible.
⁵ Ropes is referring to the post and rail fences along either side of the Hagerstown Pike. See illustration 1. 
⁶ This was the Alfred Poffenberger farmstead.
⁷ While in the West Woods, Confederate artillery situated on Hauser’s Ridge 600 yards from the regiment’s front threw grape and case shot at the division.
⁸ The 59th New York volleyed into the rear of the 15th Massachusetts. Carman wrote about this incident: “By this fire many of the Massachusetts men were killed and wounded, and the most strenuous exertions were of no avail either in stopping this murderous fire, or in causing the second line to advance to the front.” The 15th Massachusetts entered the West Woods 606 in the ranks; their losses there tallied 65 killed and 255 wounded, or, 52.8%.  Ezra A. Carman, The Maryland Campaign of September 1862, Vol. II: Antietam. Thomas G. Clemens, ed. (California: Savas Beatie, 2012), p. 615.

⁹ Major General John Sedgwick (1813-1864), West Point (1837), commanded the Second Division of the II Corps (Sumner). Shot in the wrist, leg, and shoulder in the West Woods on September 17, he survived, but lost his life at Spotsylvania Court House on May 9, 1864. See further, biographical entry in Cullum’s Register.

¹⁰ Dana was seriously wounded in the leg. See further, biographical entry in Cullum’s Register.

¹¹ Howard took command of the division vice the wounded John Sedgwick. Cullum’s Register.

¹² Edwin Vose Sumner (1797-1863) commanded II Corps, Army of the Potomac.
¹⁴ The Noon to 12:15 Cope/Carman map shows Howard’s and Dana’s brigades 40 yards due east of the Joseph Poffenberger farmstead. Rickett’s two batteries, Thompson and Matthews were to their right and left respectively. Gorman’s brigade is deployed on the Poffenberger farmstead with Dunbar Ransom’s artillery to their left rear. Map of the Battlefield of Antietam Prepared Under the Direction of the Antietam Battlefield Board, … Surveyed by Lieut. Col. E.B. Cope…Position of Troops by E.A. Carman, (Washington, D.C., 1904).
¹⁵ Of the 402 men of the 7th Michigan in the West Woods, 39 were killed, 178 wounded, and 3 went missing. Twenty of the twenty-three regimental officers were either killed or wounded. For an excellent account of the 7th Michigan in the West Woods, see Tom Nank’s blog entry titled “The Seventh Michigan Infantry at Antietam” posted at Antietam Journal. See also a list of 7th Michigan casualties at Brian Downey’s encyclopedic website Antietam on the Web.
¹⁶ The 42nd New York lost 181 officers and men or 52% casualties. The 59th New York suffered nearly 53% casualties in the West Woods. Carman, pp. 204-206; 615.
¹⁷ The Army of Northern Virginia left the field for Virginia during the night of September 18.
¹⁸ This is a reference to the Battle of Shepherdstown fought on September 20, 1862.
¹⁹ This was either Private Ansel Bean or Private Albert C. Bean. Both served in Company I, 20th Massachusetts. NARA, RG 94, Indexes to the Carded Records of Soldiers Who Served in Volunteer Organizations During the Civil War, compiled 1899 - 1927, documenting the period 1861 - 1866, Roll 0003; George A. Bruce, The Twentieth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1906), p. 500.
²⁰ This is probably a water cure spa at Lenox, Massachusetts mentioned in Ropes’ correspondence to his brother on September 3, 1862 (see post here).

²¹ Dr. Edward Hutchinson Robbins Revere, was the older brother of Major Paul Revere. A graduate of Harvard Medical School (1849), maintained a practice in Greenfield, Massachusetts at the outbreak of the war. He was "performing field surgery when he suddenly found himself in front. He remained and calmly finished the operation before he was shot and killed." Richard F. Miller, Harvard's Civil War: A History of the Twentieth Massachusetts (Lebanon, N.H., University Press of New England, 2005), pp. 25-26, 177.

²² Col. Francis Winthrop Palfrey (1831-1889), Harvard College, 1851, Harvard Law School, 1853, was hit with grapeshot in his shoulder in the West Woods.

²³ Capt. Oliver Wendell Holmes (1841-1935). For more on Holmes in the West Woods, see blog posts here of July 21, August 13, August 29, and October 29, and November 11, 2010.

²⁴ Capt. Norwood Penrose Hallowell (1839-1914), Harvard College, 1861 was severely wounded in the arm.

²⁵ Lt. William F. Milton, Harvard (1858). Richard F. Miller, Harvard's Civil War: A History of the Twentieth Massachusetts (Lebanon, N.H., University Press of New England, 2005), p. 54.

²⁶ Lt. Col. Paul Joseph Revere, grandson of Paul Revere and Harvard graduate (1862). He will be killed at Gettysburg.

²⁷ Sedgwick went into the West Woods with 5,437 infantry. Of these 369 were killed and 1,572 wounded--producing an aggregate of 1,941 or 35% casualties. Ezra A. Carman, The Maryland Campaign of September 1862, Vol. II: Antietam. Thomas G. Clemens, ed. (California: Savas Beatie, 2012), p. 351.

Semmes' Brigade in the West Woods: Stores Correspondence, Part 2

This is the second of two posts of correspondence from Captain William J. Stores, 32nd Virginia, Semmes' Brigade, to Ezra Carman of the Antietam Battlefield Board. 

============

Possible location (x) of the 32nd VA.
The 1st MN lay due North of this
position adjacent and probably
in the Poffenberger cornfield.
Note the rocky ledge to the
right of this position.

"Office of County Supt. of Schools.
Tabb, York Co., Va., January 18, 1900.

Genl. E. A. Carman

War Dept. Washington D.C.

My Dear Sir,

Yours of the 18th inst. To hand_ I will gladly give any information as the position and movements of the 32nd Va. Regt. Semmes’ brigade, that is in my power_

Now I am making this statement under the belief that the 15 Mass. 82nd N.Y. & 1 Minn. Were the advanced union line_ that these were the troops that Semmes’ brigade engaged_ Whatever portion of that line was in front of the 32nd was certainly in a Cornfield when the engagement commenced;[1a] and the 32nd Va. was in an open farm field in which there seemed to be a slight rise in or rocky ledge about 75 or 100 yds from the cornfield_

You ask_ “in going forward to the woods did we pass through any Corn before reaching the woods”_

We did go through this cornfield to the woods, thence through the woods to an open field, thence to a barn & stack in this field_ I do not remember seeing any Confederate line of troops, or passing through an orchard_ The only Confederates I remember of seeing were wounded soldiers coming toward the left, just before we turned into the where we first met the enemy. There possibly may have been some of Jackson’s men who had been engaged near the orchard_

You ask_ “If Barksdale was in the woods from which Stuart came to us while at the Barn and Stacks”_

Detail from the "The fight on Sumner's
left at Poffenberger's
farm" by Frank Schell. The
Poffenberger barn at left and the
Locher Cabin at right. The cabin still
stands; the barn foundation is all that is left.
Becker Collection, Boston College.

No. I suppose he was to our right & rear, as Stuart went in that direction to look for him_ We ⁠[1b]_ I found several wounded men and two wounded Officers from my Company, at this Hospital or barn, and I remained there all night with them. Next morning I found my Regt. near an Orchard, where we remained all day_ Fatigue parties were sent out to bury the dead_ and that night we returned & crossed the Potomac River.

[R]emained at the barn & stacks about 15 or 20 minutes_ When the enemy commenced to shell the barn we retired through the woods in a S.E. direction to an open old field_ where we remained a short while. When I image the whole brigade was reformed; and thus it was that we moved to the stone fence along the Road to Sharpsburg and where we remained until late in the afternoon_ I am quite sure the whole brigade was there_ For I heard Genl Semmes tell one of his aids “to go and tell the Regmt commanders to take their Regts. back to the rear_ out of the range of the guns_ and make them Comfortable for the night_ they would not be needed any more that day”_ I obtained permission to take a file of men and go to the battle field of the Morning to look after a wounded Officer_ When I reached the field, I found him dead_ I found a man there wounded in the leg who could not walk, so I carried him to the Hospital, which was located in a barn, with some stacks close about it_ this must have been the barn near A. Poffenberger’s

"I found several wounded men and two wounded Officers from my Company,
at this Hospital or barn..." The Alfred Poffenberger barn foundation
remains visible today. In the distance is Hauser Ridge over which Semmes'
Brigade advanced on Willis Gorman's Brigade, Sedgwick's Division.

You ask in another letter of the same date “Where was the Cornfield from which the Union line opened fire on us.”

It must have been the field N.W. of A. Poffenberger’s_ a portion of the Union line⁠ was in this Cornfield,[2] and we charged through it, to the woods, and then through the woods to the barn & stacks beyond in an open field_ This barn & stacks⁠[3] must have been the same marked on the map, about south of D.R. Miller’s_ I recollect very distinctly the rocky ledge with considerable under growth of bushes S.W. of the barn; and there was an old rail fence running along the base of this rocky ridge. It was at this very place I heard the Conversation between Semmes & Stuart referred to in a former letter[⁠4]_ I do not remember passing a [thin] line of Confederates, or do I remember passing the Poffenberger house. I think we must have come to the left of the Poffenberger house_

I recollect seeing a line of union troops beyond the barn & stacks, apparently behind a stone fence_ it might have been the turnpike⁠[5] they were in_ but it surely was [no] more than 30 or 40 feet from the barn_ I took this line to be the reserve forces around which the retreating Regts. were rallying. It seemed, as if beyond this union line, the ground was sloping_looked to be a meadow_

Detail from the Cope/Carman 9:00 a.m.
map (1908 edition). 1 and 2 are David R.
Miller's stacks and barn; 3 is the Miller
farmhouse; 4 is the stone fence that bordered
the Hagerstown Pike on the East at that point;
5 is the "rocky ledge...S.W. of the [Miller]
barn." Library of Congress.

Was not Antietam Creek over in the direction about west-north-west? I could see General officers

mounted away over beyond this meadow looking field, on hills and rising ground watching the movements_ I would like to visit the battle field_ I think I could locate some of these fields unless things have very much changed_

I can only say that our advance was to a barn & stacks with wood on the right & left_ the woods to the left was much farther from the barn, than the woods on the right and toward the north, an open field, stretching out away across to what seemed to be a meadow.

I am respectfully yours.

Wm. J. Stores

==========

Source: Antietam Studies, Record Group 92, National Archives.

William J. Stores was the Captain of Company I, 32nd Virginia. 

Notes :
1a See Stores to Carman, December 30, 1899 where Stores states he believes that they may have  engaged the 1st Minnesota in the Poffenberger cornfield.

1b This is the Alfred Poffenberger farmstead that consisted of the Locher Cabin and outlying farm buildings including a substantial barn.

2 This was probably the 1st Minnesota.
3 See Hotchkiss and Carman maps.
4 See Stores to Carman, 12/30/1899
5 This is the Miller farm house and barns that are across the Hagerstown turnpike.

Semmes' Brigade in the West Woods: Stores' Correspondence, Part 1

What follows is the first of two posts of correspondence from Captain William J. Stores, 32nd Virginia, Semmes' Brigade, to Ezra Carman of the Antietam Battlefield Board.
============

 "Office of County Sup. of Schools
Tabb, York Co., Va., Dec. 30th 1899

Genl. E. A. Carman

Washington D.C.

Dear Sir,

My recollection of the battle of Sharpsburg is very vivid and clear. But the topography as prepared by your Board a little strange at this date.

On the night of the 16th we made a forced march from near Harpers Ferry (marching all night) crossed the Potomac River just about the break of day, marched up in an open field, near a large dwelling house stacked arms and proceeded to get something to eat. 

Possible location of the 32nd VA
is marked by an X. The 1st MN
lies ahead and probably has
moved into the Poffenberger
Cornfield. Cope/Carman Map,
1908 edition. Library of Congress.

We were soon, however, in line again, and on the march. We proceeded up a road in a northerly direction and turned to the right into an open old field where we were ordered to throw off knapsacks and blankets. We continued our march across this fallow field in Column of fours — the 32d Va. At the head of the Brigade. We were thus marching when the enemy opened fire upon us from a Cornfield.

In formation line of battle, and advancing upon the Enemy in his partly concealed position, was the time we suffered mostly * (the command was halted as Col. Montague[1] reports “under cover of a slight hill” or rocky ledge).⁠[2]

Soon however the Enemy in our front gave way but we were ordered to charge_ Now this hill or rocky ledge referred to above, and reported to in Col. Montague’s report, must have been the one just above A. Poffenberger’s home_ [3] but it was not in a cornfield but in an open fallow field_ we had not reached the Cornfield when we halted_ If the position of the 15th Masst. And the 1st Minn. Are correctly reported, then there must have been the troops we engaged.

When routed from this Cornfield, the Enemy was pushed back, in a North, NorthWest direction, through a body of woods to an open field beyond. Thence across this field to a Barn and Haystacks where he attempted to rally, but we were too close on him, and he went some distance beyond the barn & stacks to a stone fence where it seemed the reserve forces were reemploying. We captured some prisoners at the barn, stacks, but they were hurried to the rear and I did not learn from what Regt. they came.

Detail from the Cope/Carman 9:00 a.m.
map (1908 edition). 1 and 2 are David R.
Miller's stacks and barn; 3 is the Miller
farmhouse; 4 is the stone fence that bordered
the Hagerstown Pike on the East at that point;
5 is the "rocky ledge...S.W. of the [Miller]
barn." Library of Congress.

Now this barn & stacks to which we advanced must have been the barn & stacks marked near D. R. Miller’s_ Because the barn and stacks near Nicodemus are not situated with relation to each other, as the barn & stacks were at which we advanced. These stacks were certainly on the right hand side of the barn.

I remember distinctly that we had a man killed standing on an old drag frame between the barn and the stacks.

Genl. Stuart’s Calvary was in a body of woods just to our left_ for Stuart came from the woods, across an open field at full speed, to the barn & stacks where we were and asked to what Command we belonged to and inquired for Genl. Semmes_  Just then a battery from the Enemie's side opened fire on the barn and stacks_ Anxious to hear what so distinguished a General as Stuart would have to say to our Brigade Commander[4] I pressed up close and heard him say, “General that battery must be taken” Semmes replied “General! My men have been in this engagement all the morning. Barksdale’s brigade is through the woods there unexposed_” Stuart dashed off, as if in search of Barksdale’s brigade. I turned about and found that my Regt. had retired through the woods to a less exposed position & when ammunition was brought up and the Cartridge boxes were refilled, we advanced no farther than the barn and stacks alluded to above.

My impression was that we were occupying the extreme left of the Confederate Infantry. Late[r] on we were ordered to the Center of our line, where it was said the Enemy was very stubborn. But we were not engaged any more during the day.

Allow me to say, that I hardly think that this dead of the 10th Geo. & 15th Va. were buried when they fell. [5]

Yours very Respectfully &c

Wm. J. Stores

Capt. Co. I 32nd Va Infantry

========

Source: Antietam Studies, Record Group 92, National Archives.

William J. Stores was the Captain of Company I, 32nd Virginia.

Notes:

1. Col. Edgar Burwell Montague (1832-1885) commanded the 32nd Virginia at Antietam. Brian Downey's Antietam on the Web under entry from Edgar Burwell Montague.

2. See Montague's Official Report at Antietam on the Web.

3. This was Alfred Poffenberger's Farmstead (Locher Cabin).

4. Brigadier General Paul Jones Semmes (1815-1863).

5. See further: "'It getting dark and plank scarce:' Philologus H. Loud and the 10th Georgia in the West Woods" posted here.

Searching for the Wadham Brothers

Some time ago, John Banks posted to his blog spot, a short report on his research on an ambrotype photograph of Justus Collins Wellington (1838-1862) of the 15th Massachusetts who fell in the West Woods.

He had found the ambrotype at an auction and then, going on just a name and no other information, eventually matched Justus with the 15th Massachusetts and contributed his research to Wellington's biography on the regiment's website maintained by Susan Harnwell.

Once lost and now found.
Tintypes of George Fergo
Fletcher and possibly
James Fletcher both
of the 15th Massachusetts.
Their parents are also
included in this collection.

Traveling to Antietam, he posed Justus by the regiment's lion memorial and snapped the photo displayed here. The complete post can be found here.

A week ago, John came across a set of photographs of members of the Fletcher family that an online auction house was offering.

One of the photos was of George Fergo Fletcher (see notes on the Fletcher story posted here on February 23 and April 1). This is posted here. Currently George is thought to be the image on the upper right while his brother James, killed at Antietam in the West Woods, appears in the upper left. Their parents are depicted below them.

He contacted the Fletchers to alert them to the offering and happily they were able to bring the tintypes back into the family.

Now John has undertaken a larger research project--that of finding three Wadham brothers from Litchfield, Connecticut. The most recent entry in this remarkable story was posted on April 9 and can be found at this address.

"Only 9 were left standing:" Company H, 15th Massachusetts in the West Woods, Part 2

This is a continuation of a previous post. In that entry, the relationship of the Fletcher, Chapin, and Whitin families were chronicled. The Whitinsville casualties listed in The Worcester Daily Spy were connected in various ways to each other, to the village from which they came, and to the commander of Company H, Lt. Samuel Fletcher, whose family, allied with the Whitens, provided much of the employment to residents of the Mumford River mill town. [1]

The previous post explored the fates of James B. Fletcher (brother of Samuel Fletcher), Edward Chapin (cousin of Samuel and James Fletcher), and Henry W. Ainsworth.

What of the others listed that day? The Roster and Genealogy Project of the 15th Massachusetts Online maintained by Susan L. Harnwell gives us some insights into their lives. Unless otherwise noted, this is the source for the biographical information that follows. [2]

Orlando W. Bacheler. Photo at
15th Massachusetts website.

Eighteen year old Private Orlando W. Bacheler (April 6, 1844-September 17, 1862), hailed from Sutton, Worcester County, Massachusetts. The only son of Jonas Batchelor (1803-1891) and Mary A. Young (1813-1894), Orlando gave his occupation as machinist when enlisting in Company H. According to the family history, when… “the father went south for the body and returned home with it. After this he was not quite the same man as before.” The spelling of his last name is in some dispute. The 15th website lists him as Batchelor but the photograph of his tombstone in South Sutton Cemetery taken by Gerry Dahlstrom shows the spelling as Bacheler. Further confusion comes from the History of Sutton which lists his father as Jonas Batcheller. 

Arthur J. Andrews (1841/42-September 17, 1862) of Northbridge, Worcester County, listed himself as a machinist on enlisting in Company G. His parents were William H. Andrews, a machinist (ca.1814-1872) and Susan Andrews (1816-nd). His younger brother Oliver, later enlisted in the 42nd Massachusetts and survived the war.

Private Isaac Marshall (ca. 1840-September 17, 1862), a machinist, enlisted in Company H with his friend Eugene Keith, 22, also a machinist. According to the 1860 Census for Massachusetts, both lived in a boarding house in Whitinsville. Eugene Keith was killed at Balls Bluff on October 21, 1861.

Private Andrew Addison (ca 1844-September 17, 1862) was born in Scotland listed his occupation as machinist. He joined Company H with his father William Addison (1809-1892), who served as a “fifer,” and his brother, James Addison, listed as an apprentice mechanic. On 23 Jan 1862 William ended military service with the 15th Massachusetts due to disability. He returned, however, to duty in February 1865, with the 1st Maine Light Artillery, Company G serving as a "Major Fifer." The father survived the war. His other son James, appears on a list of the sick and wounded brought to New York from Fortress Monroe in late August 1862. James apparently deserted Company H just prior to Antietam on September 1, 1862. On August 28, 1891, however, his father included in an application to enter the Washington State Soldiers' Home in Oakedale that both sons were killed in the war.

Private George N. Smith (1842-September 17, 1862), machinist, joined Company H while his brother Edwin Jacob Smith joined  Company G. George was and currently is listed as missing and presumed dead. His brother Edwin was severely wounded in the neck in the West Woods. Captured and imprisoned at Libby Prison in Richmond, Edwin was eventually paroled and was taken home by his father.

Those listed in The Worcester Spy as wounded from Whitinsville are:

James S. Flannegan, (also, James S. Flanigan) (1812-1873), from Ireland, was 49 when he enlisted in Company H. He was the head of a household that included his second wife, her daughter and son from her previous marriage and his two sons from his previous marriage. His step daughter was married to Thomas Wathey also in the 15th. He was taken prisoner in the West Woods and sent to Libby prison in Richmond. The Worcester Spy, in its October 15, 1862 edition lists him among the "camp of paroled prisoners at Annapolis." He returned to the 15th and served until July 28, 1864.

Edwin Smith (1844-1924), brother of George N. Smith (see above).

Ebenezer Prest, (1837-1874), enlisted in Company H and listed as machinist. Wounded in the hand. Ended service Dec. 29, 1862 due to disability. Joined U.S. Navy the following year and was discharged as Acting 3rd Assistant Engineer in October 1865.

Charles H. Plimpton, 17 years old, (1845-1931), joined Company G with his two brothers Webster Daniel Plimpton and Franklin Amos Plimpton. A third brother, Amos Gardner Plimpton joined the 15th in July 1862 and was transferred immediately to the Andrews Sharpshooters. From the family genealogy “Near the close of Antietam, he [Charles] was severely wounded and taken prisoner. After being a prisoner 3 days, he was recaptured by his own regiment and conveyed to the battlefield hospital. The surgeons there decided to amputate his leg above the left knee joint. This he opposed so strongly, that he was left to care for himself. In intense suffering, by ambulance and by railroad he was taken to Philadelphia. There, by the aid of the most skillful surgeons and good nursing, he recovered.” Another brother of Charles, George Washington Plimpton, served with the Fourth Regiment, Massachusetts Cavalry. After the war Charles married Mary A. Bell from Virginia. He became a locomotive engineer and passenger conductor, and at age 84, was listed as a salesman for flour mills. He died in Waukegan, Illinois on October 7, 1931--86 years, 4 months, and 14 days old.

Ira Partin (also Parkis), (1840-1897) was a 21 year old clerk when he mustered into Company H of the 15th. He was wounded in the thigh at Antietam and in November 1863 transferred to the Veterans’ Reserve Corps. After the war he became a dry goods merchant in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

Additional members of Company H listed as killed on the 15th Massachusetts Monument are:

Corporal Henry A. Collar, from Uxbridge,

Private Patrick Finnegan, from Worcester.

Private Christopher Young[s], Private at Antietam, from Northbridge.

Wounded and died are:

Private Samuel Emerson, Sept. 26, 1862, from Webster.

Private Franklin L. Hayden, Sept. 27, 1862, from Uxbridge/Sutton.

Private Charles D. Smith, Sept. 27, 1862, from Sutton.

Private Simon Sullivan, Oct. 21, 1862, from Worcester.

========

Notes

[1] The Worcester Daily Spy, September 25, 1862.

[2] This remarkable and unique online collection of individual histories, many with photographs, of the 15th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War, 1861-1864 is a valuable resource for any student of the Civil War. You can find it at http://www.nextech.de/ma15mvi/ma15mvi-p/index.htm.

"Only 9 were left standing:" Company H, 15th Massachusetts in the West Woods

On September 25, 1862 The Worcester Daily Spy published news of the battle of Antietam and included this report from Whitinsville, Massachusetts.

"Whitinsville. This village has suffered severely by the loss of its volunteers, all of whom were connected with the 15th regiment. The killed, so far as heard from, are seven, as follows: Orlando Batcheller, Arthur W. Andrews, Henry W. Ainsworth, James B. Fletcher, Isaac Marshall, Andrew Addison, George N. Smith. The following are heard from as wounded: James S. Flannegan, Edwin Smith, Eben Prest, Charles H. Plimpton, Ira Partin. The intelligence has cast a deep gloom over the village. -- PWD."⁠[1]

Eight days before, the 15th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry had entered the West Woods with 606 officers and men under the command of Lt. Col. John W. Kimball. As they emerged from the West Woods soon found themselves “hotly engaged” with what was left of the divisions of J. R. Jones, Ewell and Hood, and a portion of D. H. Hill's division who were “well covered by the nature of the ground, field of grain, hay-stacks, buildings, and a thick orchard” that was the Alfred Poffenberger farmstead. For twenty to thirty minutes both sides exchanged volleys—and both stood firm. As the Fifteenth’s left wing pushed into the farmstead “under a most terrific infantry fire” to “not more than 15 yards” away when brigades from McLaw’s and Walker’s Divisions fell on their left and rear, “pouring in a deadly cross-fire” and forcing the regiment from the field. The cost to the regiment was high: twelve officers were killed or wounded and 336 enlisted men were killed, wounded, and missing. Of these casualties, twelve were from the small village of Whitinsville. This is their story.⁠ [2]

Whitin Machine Works, 1879
National Park Service

Whitinsville straddles the Mumford River Valley in south central Massachusetts. It shares the valley with other nearby small villages—East Douglas, Linwood, and Uxbridge—all of whom depended on the river to drive the small mills and factories that dotted the early 19th century New England landscape. As the number of the river-powered mills grew, machinists, carpenters, clerks began to fill the boarding houses and mill cottages. At first, most migrants to the Mumford valley were from the farms and villages of eastern Massachusetts but the late 1840s saw an influx of Irish, Dutch, and German workers. Of the mill villages along the Mumford, Whitinsville was one of the largest and most prosperous. [3]

Whitinsville’s rising importance during the first half of the 19th Century was fueled by the ambitions and fortunes of two families—the Fletchers and the Whitins. It is to these two families that the lives of many of the Whitinsville volunteers connect—either by birth or by commerce. [⁠4]

By the 1780s, the Fletchers had established themselves as Whitinsville’s leading family. Col. James Fletcher owned most of the land around the town and operated a prosperous forge established by his grandfather. The family’s growing business required a steady influx of apprentices, journeymen, and master machinists, clerks, and other skilled and unskilled labor. One of those who arrived to find work in Fletcher’s forge was Revolutionary War veteran from nearby Uxbridge, Paul C. Whitin.⁠ [5]

Starting out as an apprentice, Whitin’s talents quickly advanced his fortunes. His abilities must have pleased James Fletcher because he allowed him to marry, in 1793, Fletcher’s daughter Elizabeth. By 1815, the Whitin and Fletcher family fortunes combined in the Whitin & Fletcher Cotton Mill.⁠ At the same time, James Fletcher brought his two brothers Samuel and Ezra into the firm. The partnership lasted until 1826 when Whitin bought the Fletchers out and brought his sons (and James Fletcher's grandchildren) Paul Jr. and John Crane Whitin into the business. Renamed Paul Whitin & Sons, the firm added a state-of-the-art factory that employed power looms and new spinning technologies to weave cotton textiles. This factory was followed by two more, so that by the outbreak of war in April 1861, Whitin & Sons, ran three cotton manufacturing factories which also made them the biggest employer in the river valley.⁠ [6]

In July 1861, Company H of the Fifteenth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was formed from boys and men from Whitinsville and surrounding farms and villages of Northbridge township. Those enlisting that month included the great-grandsons of Col. James Fletcher and the descendants of Paul Whitin as well as numerous machinists and mill workers many of whom worked in the mills and factories of Paul Whitin & Sons. Their common bond was Whitinsville but their greater one was to the brothers, cousins, fathers and sons who filled the ranks of these two companies. ⁠[7]

Lt. Samuel J. Fletcher
Courtesy, Worcester Historical
Museum

First Lt. Samuel Judson Fletcher commanded the sixty-two men in the Whitinsville company; he was related to three. His brothers George and James and his cousin Edward Chapin had all joined Company H on July 12, 1861. Of the four, Sam and Edward Chapin had gone on to college—Sam graduated Brown in 1857 and Edward had left Harvard to join his cousins. On joining the company, each listed their occupation: Sam, civil engineer; Edward, student; George, mechanic; and James, clerk.⁠ [8]

The Fletcher brothers parents were Ephrahim S. Fletcher (1805-1868) and Margaret Ann Chapin (1808-1897) and their grandfather was Whitinsville founder Col. James Fletcher.⁠[9] Edward Fletcher Chapin’s mother was Margaret Fletcher (1807-1887) the sister of Ephraim S. Fletcher, and aunt to the Fletcher brothers. He was also descended from Paul Whitin, Jr. [10]

For Sam Fletcher, the day began with mail call.

“…Before going into battle our mail came My Brother George received Harpers Weekly_He folded it several times and put it in his blouse pocket a bullet struck the pocket and pierced the paper. He sent it home and it was found that this bullet passed through 64 thicknesses of the paper thus saving his life: this was where we lost the most men in a battle we were fighting not more than half an hour: my company had 62 when we went into battle and when I ordered them back only 9 were left standing: as I gave the order my brother James fell shot through the head. I caught him as he fell but he was dead. The Rebels were within 3 rods as we fell back. George and my Cousin Edward Chapin who left Harvard College to go as a recruit were of the 9."[11]

With the 15th vacating the West Woods there was little that Sam or others could do to recover their dead and wounded but wait. Sam continues...

"The Rebels held the ground for a day or two and then I had charge of the party to bury the dead of our regiment I had orders to be as quick as I could[.] I had a long grave[.] [T]he Soil was very hard the men brought the bodies and I helped place them in the grave laid them two deep and buried 43[.]"⁠[12]

Others from Whitinsville were searching for friends and family too. Roland Bowen in Company H describes his search for his friend Private Henry Ainsworth. 13

Locher Cabin, west side

“Now when I heard [Henry Ainsworth] was dead, which was 10 or 11 oc on Friday the 19th, I went righ[t] over to the battle field to find his body so that I could bury it in a separate grave. I looked over a number of hundreds of bodies but I could not find Henry any where. So I went down to the front of the wood, and here I found a burying party from the 15th under a Lieut[tenant] from Co. H. [14] I asked him if he had go the body of Henry Ainsworth. Yes said he and have just covered the corpes {sic} over. Said I. I am sorry. I wished to see it and bury it separately. But I was too late, he was buried. Perhaps you don’t know how we bury the dead. Let me tell you about this particular trench and that will suffice for the whole."

"The trench in which Henry is buried is situated near a log cabin just out side the garden fence. I believe it is on the West side.[⁠15] The trench was 25 feet long, 6 feet wide and about 3 feet deep. The corpes [corpses] were buried by Co., that is the members of each Co. Are put together. Co. H was buried first in the uper {sic} end of the trench next {to} the woods."

James S. Fletcher and
George F. Fletcher

"They are laid in two tiers, one [on] top of the other. The bottom tier was laid in, then straw laid over the head and feet, then the top tier laid on them and covered with dirt about 18 inches deep. Henry is the 3rd corpes from the upper end of the top tier next to the woods."

"Mr. Ainsworth, this is not the way we bury folks at home. I am sorry, but it was too late to have it different. Then there is a board put up at each end of the trench with the simple inscription. ‘15th Mass. Buried here.’ There is 39 men in the trench with Henry. There is others of our Regmt buried near by. Some of our men had their clothes taken off by the rebels. Henry did not have anything taken but shoes and what was in his pockets.”⁠ [16]

⁠While George Fletcher's luck held this day, it ran out the following July at Gettysburg where he was killed. His cousin, Edward Fletcher Chapin, severely wounded there, died the following month in Baltimore. Of the four Fletcher family members at Antietam, only Sam survived the war. Sam returned to the West Woods some time later "and took up the body and sent it home to Witensville.” He would return once more to the Woods, "with the regiment in Sept 1900 and we dedicated a monument there." [17]

To be continued...

=========

Sources

Note: The Roster and Genealogy Project of the 15th Massachusetts Online maintained by Susan L. Harnwell provided much of the biographical information in this entry. This remarkable and unique online collection of individual histories, many with photographs, of the 15th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War, 1861-1864 is a valuable resource for any student of the Civil War. You can find it at http://www.nextech.de/ma15mvi/ma15mvi-p/index.htm. 

I would also like to thank Sherry Fletcher for her correspondence and for kindly forwarding Fletcher family information including photographs, correspondence, and a copy of Samuel J. Fletcher's manuscript account of his life with the 15th.


Thanks also goes out to the Worcester Historical Museum, Worcester Massachusetts for their permission to post Samuel Fletcher's photograph on this blog site. 

1 The Worcester Daily Spy, September 25, 1862 (Volume 17, Number 230), retrieved from The Roster and Genealogy Project of the 15th Massachusetts Online maintained by Susan L. Harnwell (hereafter 15th Massachusetts Online), entry for Henry Ainsworth, http://www.nextech.de/ma15mvi/ma15mvi-p/index.htm. 

<sup>2 Andrew Elmer Ford, The Story of the Fifteenth regiment Massachusetts volunteer infantry in the Civil War, 1861-1864 (W.J. Coulter, Courant Office, 1898), pp. 194-95; Lt. Col. John W. Kimball, "Report on the actions of The 15th Mass. during Battle of Antietam: Headquarters. 15th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, Camp near Sharpsburg, September 20, 1862” (OR). The final figures were 330 casualties—75 killed and 255 wounded and, of these, 43 would eventually succumb to their wounds.

3 In 1835, the village of South Northbridge was renamed Whitinsville. Don Gosselin's Blackstone Daily website at http://www.blackstonedaily.com/whitinintro.htm; National Park Service, Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor at http://www.nps.gov/blac/planyourvisit/upload/whitinsville.pdf

4 National Park Service, Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor at http://www.nps.gov/blac/planyourvisit/upload/whitinsville.pdf

5 Col. James Fletcher's father was Samuel Fletcher, whose grandfather had established a forge in South Northbridge in the late 1700s. Steven D. Ittel, The Ancestors of Alexandra Carter Lundgren (n.p. 2006), pp. 48-49; Henry Chapin, Address delivered at the Unitarian Church, in Uxbridge, Mass, in 1864. (Worcester, MA. Press of Charles Hamilton, 1881), pp. 81-82; Library of Congress, American Memory Project (online) entry for Whitinsville; http://www.blackstonedaily.com/whitinintro.htm.

6  Retrieved from Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor at http://www.nps.gov/blac/planyourvisit/upload/whitinsville.pdf

7 Brothers Samuel J. Fletcher, James B. Fletcher, George Fergo Fletcher along with their cousin Edward Chapin and their brother-in-law George Davison enlisted in Company H of the 15th Massachusetts Volunteers. The Fletcher brothers were the great grandchildren of James Fletcher. Edward Chapin’s great aunt was married to Paul Whitin, Jr. Samuel Chapin Ancestors and Descendants (online), maintained by Deanne Driscoll at wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/.

8 15th Massachusetts Online; Henry S. Burrage, Civil War Record of Brown University (Providence, R.I., 1920), p. 23; Ancestry Online. Historical Data Systems, comp., U.S. Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009. Original data: Data compiled by Historical Data Systems of Kingston, MA] and citing Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in the Civil War Massachusetts GAR: Journal of the Annual Encampment. 

9 15th Massachusetts Online.

10 Paul Whiten, Jr. brought another prominent Whitinsville family into the Fletcher/Whiten nexus by marrying Sarah Richardson Chapin. And Samuel Fletcher's (b. 1779) son, Ephrahim (1805-1868) contributed to the three-family alliance by marrying Margaret A. Chapin (1808-1897). Margaret gave birth to three sons and a daughter Samuel J. Fletcher (1831-1924), James B. Fletcher (d. 1862), George Fergo Fletcher (d. 1863), and Abby E. Fletcher who eventually married George Davison. 15th Massachusetts Online, entry for Henry Ainsworth, http://www.nextech.de/ma15mvi/ma15mvi-p/index.htm; Steven D. Ittel, The Ancestors of Alexandra Carter Lundgren (n.p. 2006), p. 40.

11 Manuscript of reminiscences by Samuel Fletcher.

12 Manuscript of reminiscences by Samuel Fletcher.

13 Henry W. Ainsworth (1838-1862). Elam Waldo Ainsworth, blacksmith, b. 11 Aug 1810, d. 24 Feb 1864 and mother Candace Allen b. 3 Jan 1800, d. 6 Jun 1861. When he enlisted in Company H, he listed himself as a clerk. The 1860 Census shows him living in a large boarding house run by the Burgess family. Rank at Antietam, private. His brother Samuel A. Ainsworth joined the First Massachusetts Sharpshooters. At the time of his enlistment he listed himself as a gunsmith. 15th Massachusetts Online</sup>

14 This was Lt. Samuel Fletcher. In another letter, Bowen writes: "“The Lt. has a brother buried there. He says he thinks he shall remove his remains another winter, …”⁠ Roland Bowen to Carrie Ainsworth, (no date, no place) and published and published in From Ball’s Bluff to Gettysburg…And Beyond: The Civil War Letters of Private Roland E. Bowen, 15th Massachusetts Infantry, 1861-1864. Gregory A. Coco, editor. (Gettysburg, Pa: Thomas Publications, 1994),  pp. 128-29.

15 Walter Gale, a 15th Massachusetts officer reported that the dead of the 15th “were buried in a small garden-spot, quite near the scene of action. It is known as Lucca Place, and is about one mile from the village of Sharpsburg. Any one in the neighborhood will point out the location, -- the exact spot is marked by a headboard, -- and the proprietor has promised that this, together with those near it, shall be preserved.” The "Lucca Place" is the Locher Cabin. Walter Gale to Mary Ann Allen, September 24, 1862 and published at 15th Massachusetts Online.

16 Roland Bowen to Elam Waldo Ainsworth, Bolivar Heights, Va, September 28, 1862 and published in From Ball’s Bluff to Gettysburg…And Beyond: The Civil War Letters of Private Roland E. Bowen, 15th Massachusetts Infantry, 1861-1864. Gregory A. Coco, editor. (Gettysburg, Pa: Thomas Publications, 1994), pp. 124-28 [hereafter Coco]; identification of Mary Derby from 15th Massachusetts Online.


17 Manuscript of reminiscences by Samuel Fletcher.

Images

Image of Samuel J. Fletcher published with permission of the Worcester Historical Museum, Worcester Massachusetts. Image of James Fletcher's gravestone provided by Sherry Fletcher. All other images retrieved from National Park Service Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor at http://www.nps.gov/blac/planyourvisit/upload/whitinsville.pdf