To the West Woods: The Correspondence of Henry Ropes, 20th Massachusetts, Entry 9.

This is the ninth 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 20th Regiment on field near 

Sharpsburg, Md. Sunday September 21st 1862.

My dear Mother.


I have not written to you for a long time, but I knew it was the same thing to write to Father, and I have kept him as well informed of my movements as possible. Ever since we left Harrison's Landing, August 16th, I have not had a day or even an hour when I could be sure we were not to get immediate orders to start.


I have written fully to the others about the late battle, and have no more to say. You have no doubt seen full lists of the killed and wounded. I am entirely ignorant of the movements of the Rebels and even of our own troops. I hear however two reports, one that Genl. Sumner's Corps is not to cross into Virginia, but be left to protect Maryland, probably to stay near the Potomac; the other that Dana's Brigade is reported

Col. William Raymond Lee
Courtesy, Massachusetts Historical Society

unfit for service. As you know Genl. Dana⁠ [1] is wounded; and of our Regiments the 7th. Michigan is almost destroyed, the 42d New York (Tammany) dispersed and almost broken up, and the 19th and 20th suffered heavily. Col. Hinks⁠ [2] mortally wounded, Lt. Colonel Devereaux⁠ [3] and the 1st Captain⁠ [4] wounded, the Lieut. Colonel of the 59th killed⁠ [5], and we have lost Col. Palfrey⁠ [6]. Col. Lee ⁠[7] is quite broken down and ill. Do not of course needlessly alarm his family, but it is the opinion of all here, that he is quite incapable of enduring the hardships of a camp life longer. He ought to go home and be attended to and nursed. He does not take care of himself at all, and gets wet through, and sleeps without a tent on the wet ground &c, when he could just as well be comfortable and leave such rough duty to younger men. Then you know he is by no means a young man, and, as far as I have observed, an old man cannot endure hardship like a young one. Cold and wet and exposure use up an old man, when a young one gets over anything after a few hours of sleep and a good breakfast. The reason why some old men do flourish so out here is that they take things easily and take great care of themselves, like old Sumner ⁠[8] for instance. So as we are very short of Officers, and the Regiments greatly reduced in the number of men, we shall probably be left to lie still and recruit for a time.

I am delighted to find Mr Willard⁠ [9] is Major. I have tried to see him but have been as yet unable. Capt. Macy⁠ [10] saw him, and he enquired particularly for me. 

If you have an opportunity please send me 2 pairs of my blue woolen socks. I like them rather better than the Government socks, and they wear better.


We are now camped on a part of the battlefield, and the trees are marked with shot and often split by balls and shells. Most of the dead are now buried, but large numbers of horses still remain and pollute the air.


The farmers about here have shown the greatest patriotism and kindness.


They came on the field the day after the battle and took great quantities of wounded to their own houses to nurse and attend to them. I hear that in the midst of the battle a farmer brought 5 horses to one of our batteries from his own barn, and generously gave them to supply the places of those killed. Herbert Mason ⁠[11] was particularly exposed, as he was on the left. He lost all his non-commissioned Officers, and half of his men. Our Division lost about one half.


A very good man of my Company, named Riley⁠ [12], was killed instantly. He was poor and worked in a foundry in Chelsea, where he has a wife and 7 children. They may possibly be in want. Perhaps you could visit them when you make your charitable rounds.


James⁠ [13] does very well now, and I shall no doubt keep him. 

Love to Mary Ann⁠ [14] and all. I shall try to write to her next.


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 Brig. Gen. Napoleon J.T. Dana (1822-1905), West Point (1842), commanded the Third Brigade of John Sedgwick’s Second Division, II Corps (second brigade in line in the West Woods). He was seriously wounded in the leg. See further, biographical entry in Cullum’s Register.

2 Colonel Edward Winslow Hinks (Hincks) (1830-1894) commanded the 19th Massachusetts, Third Brigade (Dana’s), Second Division (Sedgwick), II Corps. He was seriously wounded, but not killed, in the West Woods.

3 Lt. Col. Arthur Forrester Devereux (1838-1906), 19th Massachusetts.


4 Probably Captain Edmund Rice (1842-1906). For more on Rice, see Brian Downey’s Antietam on the Web under Edmund Rice.


5 This is John Lemuel Stetson (1834-1862). For more on Stetson, see blog entry for November 11, 2009.


6 Col. Francis Winthrop Palfrey (1831-1889), Harvard College, 1851, Harvard Law School, 1853. He would be hit with grapeshot in his shoulder in the West Woods on September 17.


7 Colonel William Raymond Lee (1807-1891) led the 20th Massachusetts from its inception at the outbreak of the war through Antietam. He was captured at the Battle of Ball's Bluff (Virginia, October 1861) and spent four months in close confinement in bad conditions at a Richmond POW camp. Once paroled in late February 1862, he returned to Boston to recuperate. A family member was struck by the changes to Lee and other returning officers: "They were worn and old-looking, with the strange expression those carry who have been in confinement, or under a great pressure of care. [Y]outh had gone out of them...[replaced by] silence and listlessness, and dull lines about the face that were sad to see." After convalescing in Boston, Lee rejoined the regiment and took them through the punishing Peninsula Campaign of the spring/summer 1862 where he was left severely wounded and unable to walk. A commentator wrote of the regiment that at the end of the campaign, "they look used up." Returning to the regiment in early September 1862, Lee led the 20th into the West Woods on September 17th. Of the 400 that entered the woods that morning, 137, or 34%, were left dead or wounded on the field. Some went missing and have never been found. Nearly all regimental officers were counted as casualties including Oliver Wendell Holmes, Francis Palfrey, and Edward Revere. The action left Lee broken. Two days after the battle, Capt. George Macy found Lee in a stable not far from the field, he was "drunk, broke, and hungry, and his uniform soiled with his own diarrhea...he was just like a little child wandering away from home." He resigned his commission shortly afterwards and he remained "frail and shaky" for the remainder of his life. Richard F. Miller, Harvard’s Civil War: A History of the Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (Hanover and London: University Press of New England, 2005), pp. 116-119, 127-28, 154, 161, 170-183, 218; John C. Ropes, “William Raymond Lee,” Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. 28 (May, 1892-May, 1893), pp. 346-348.


8 Edwin Vose Sumner (1797-1863) commanded II Corps, Army of the Potomac.


9 Major Sidney Willard (1831-1863), a Harvard graduate (1852) and Boston lawyer, served as a Major in the 35th Massachusetts, IX Corps. He would be killed at Fredericksburg on December 13. C.A. Bartol, A Nation’s Hour: A Tribute to Major Sidney Willard (Boston: Walker, Wise, and Company, 1862), pp. 14, 30-31.


10 Lt. George Nelson Macy (1837-1875) from one of Nantucket’s oldest families would rise to General by war’s end.


11 Lt. Herbert Cowpland Mason (1840-1884), Harvard College, 1862, was severely wounded in the West Woods.


12 Irish born Private John Riley (1824-1862) served in Company K of the 20th Massachusetts. A resident of Chelsea, Massachusetts he was an “iron puddler” at the time of his enlistment on August 26, 1861. The 1860 Massachusetts Census found him residing in Worcester with his wife Fanny, also born in Ireland, and six children ages 15 to 1 years old. Fanny filed for widow’s and minors' pensions on May 11, 1863. John Riley is buried at Antietam National Cemetery, Section 17, Lot A, Grave 15. U.S. Census, Massachusetts, 1860; Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the Civil War, The Adjutant General, compiler (Norwood, MA: Norwood Press, 1931), p. 585; NARA, RG 15, Organization Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1861 and 1900, compiled 1949 - 1949, documenting the period 1861 - 1942.


13 James Smith (1842-1864) was a “case maker” from Northampton before the war. He wrote to John C. Ropes on November 5, 1863 “a few lines in accordance with the expressed wish of your late Brother Lt. Ropes with whom I was a servant…” He signed his letter “James Smith, Head Qrs, 3d Brig., 2d Div., 2nd Corps, A.P.” He would be killed on June 9, 1864 at Cold Harbor. Ropes Manuscript, Rare Books and Manuscripts Department, Boston Public Library; Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the Civil War, The Adjutant General, compiler (Norwood, MA: Norwood Press, 1931), p. 586.


14 Ropes’ sister, Mary Ann Ropes (b 1842).

To the West Woods: The Correspondence of Henry Ropes, 20th Massachusetts, Entry 3

This is the third 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 20th Regiment
Tennallytown near Washington, D.C.

September 5th 1862.

My dear Father.

Battery Martin Scott in the District
of Columbia overlooking Chain Bridge.
Harper's Weekly, August 24, 1861.

I wrote to you last from Alexandria, day before yesterday, telling you of our heavy marches to and [1] I was unable to march yesterday and came in an ambulance with Col. Hinks⁠ [2] of the 19th Regiment, a very pleasant man. He told me that we marched 30 miles on Sunday, from 2 A.M. till 12 P.M., and that taking the 3 days together we marched 65 miles in 64 consecutive hours. This march quite used up my foot, and I found yesterday that I was quite unable to march, but to-day it is much better and I have no doubt a few day’s rest will quite restore it.
from Fairfax Court House. Yesterday the Brigade (under Col. Lee) marched to this place crossing at Chain Bridge. Our Corps, and Banks’ is here, and I understand Banks is to-day to move up the river to Poolesville.

We are now on very high land and shall probably be very comfortable.[3] I have written to Poolesville ⁠2and ordered my two boxes there to be sent home to you by Adams’ Express. I enclose the keys. They are filled with Camp equipage which, I could not carry with me from Poolesville. Please open the boxes and make any use of the contents. Some of the things I may need and if so will send for them.

[Notation in pencil: “For close see close of letter 26 September /62_” The “close” from September 26th is amended below. Someone has added a notation in pencil to this amendment that “This is probably the close of a letter dated Sept. 5, 1862 “].

From all I hear, McDowell [4] made a bad job of his retreat and our loss was heavy, and a great deal of valuable Stores and many wagons fell into the enemy’s hands. I can see no excuse for this. A good firm rear guard can stop almost any pursuit. We have now twice covered a retreat, and both times with success.

Jackson seems to strike terror everywhere. I hope Sumner [5] will meet him some day and turn the tables. We expect to be here several weeks. I am perfectly well as usual. Herbert [6] is quite strong and well, and stood the hard marching perfectly. I have written to John [7] to get me a number of things, and I have no doubt it will take up much of his time to see to them, be he is very kind in attending to everything, and I think I have now found out exactly what I need.

Best love to Mother and all. I shall write soon and answer all letters when I can get a tent up.

Ever your affectionate Son

Henry.


Sources
The source for Henry Ropes’ correspondence that constitutes this and the following items in this series is the three volume transcription of Ropes outbound correspondence to his father, mother, and his brother, John C. Ropes. 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 centerpiece of John C. Ropes work and his legacy. Each of the three hand-written 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] Poolesville, Montgomery County, Maryland.

[2] Colonel Edward Winslow Hinks (Hincks) (1830-1894) commanded the 19th Massachusetts. He would be seriously wounded in the West Woods.

[3] Tennallytown, District of Columbia, at 500 feet elevation, is on one of the highest points of the District.

[4] Gen. Irwin McDowell led the III Corps of the Army of Virginia under John Pope.

[5] Edwin Vose Sumner commanded the II Corps of the Army of the Potomac.

[6] Lt. Herbert Cowpland Mason (1840-1884), Harvard College, 1862, would be severely wounded in the West Woods.

[7] John C. Ropes, his brother.

"As grain before the scythe:" The Nineteenth Massachusetts in the West Woods

On September 17, the 19th Massachusetts found itself "hotly engaged" in the West Woods where they would lose half the regiment. In the midst of this stood John G.W. Adams (1) a shoemaker from Groveland, Essex County, Massachusetts. Years later Adams would publish a history of the 19th and in it would record the loss of one brother and the reunion of another. (2)

"We arrived at South Mountain while the battle was being fought, but took no part in it. The 16th of September we reached Antietam, and formed in line of battle. On the morning of the 17th, with our brigade in the centre, we advanced in three lines of battle, over walls and fences, through fields, under a terrible fire of artillery. (3) The regiment was growing nervous but did not break. Colonel Hincks (4) halted us, put us through the manual of arms, ending with parade rest. Having become steady, we moved forward to a strip of woods, and came upon the enemy strongly posted. Grape and canister, shot and shell, volleys of musketry greeted us, - and our men fell as grain before the scythe.

One-half of our officers and men were either killed or wounded. Colonel Hincks was the first to fall, again terribly wounded. Capt. George W. Batchelder (5) was killed, and the command of the regiment and companies changed fast, as one after another officer went down. At the time we were so hotly engaged in the front we began to receive a fire from our left and rear, and discovered that we were being flanked, and must change front to rear. This was done by the 19th Massachusetts and 1st Minnesota. We were now under command of Colonel Devereaux,(6) and were ordered to take a position near a stone wall. We fired as we fell back, holding the enemy until we had reformed our lines, when we again went in and continued fighting until dark, when we were ordered to support a battery. We then had time to count the cost of the battle. Colonel Hincks was reported dying, and we mourned the loss of our brave leader.(7) Captain Batchelder was dead. He had been my tent-mate since I had been an officer, and had rendered me valuable assistance. Every one loved him; he was an ideal volunteer soldier. Having graduated at Harvard, he entered the army as an enlisted man in the Salem Zouaves at the first call for men, and had worked hard to bring the regiment to the state of efficiency which it had reached.

I had not seen my brother (8) since we had advanced in line. He was left general guide of the regiment, and his place was on the left. As soon as we halted I went to the company, but he was not there. The following day I searched the hospitals, but could not find him, and on the morning of the 19th, the rebels having left our front, I went where their lines had been and found him, with Jacob Hazen of Company C and George Carleton of Company B, near an old haystack. He had been shot in the right side of the neck, the ball passing out of the left shoulder; it had cut the spinal nerve, and he could not move hand or foot. I saw at once that he could not live and had him placed in an ambulance and carried to our field hospital. It was the saddest duty of my life. We had left home together, and had often talked of a happy reunion around the old fireside when the war should end. Now I must write to my old mother that one of the three who had bade her good-by in '61 would never return.

This was war, terrible war! As I was kneeling by his side, hearing his last words, a woman's voice said, "Is he your brother?" I explained to her the fact that I was in command of my company and could not stay with him, but could not bear to have him die alone. With tears streaming down her motherly face she promised me she would not leave him, but would see him buried and would send me word where he was laid, - which promise she faithfully kept. The name of this good woman was Mrs. Mary Lee of Philadelphia, Pa.(9) She had a son in Baxter's Fire Zouaves,(10) who was with her that day. Several years ago, when Post 2, G.A.R., of Philadelphia, was in Boston, I saw that one of the old battle-flags was the Fire Zouaves, and was carried by Sergeant Lee.(11) He proved to be the son I had met that sad day at Antietam; a few months later I visited his mother in Philadelphia, who was working just the same for the soldiers as she had done during the war.

While my brother lay wounded on the field inside the rebel lines an officer of the 8th South Carolina came along, and seeing 19 on his cap asked to what regiment he belonged. Being informed that it was the 19th Massachusetts, he said he had a brother in that regiment named Daniel W. Spofford. My brother told him that his brother was wounded in the battle, and might be on the field. He searched for him but did not find him, as he was able to go to the rear before we changed front. Returning, he had my brother carried to the haystack where I found him, and rendered all the assistance possible. The name of the South Carolina officer was Phineas Spofford. Both brothers survived the war. The Union soldier resides in Georgetown, Mass., the rebel in South Carolina, but he often visits his native State.(12)

I also missed my boy Patch.(13) He was last seen helping a sergeant from the field. He turned up in Libby Prison a few days later. My old company had met with other losses than death. Four men had deserted on the eve of battle. They had taken the canteens of the company to go in search of water. No doubt they are searching yet, as they did not return. Two were non-commissioned officers, and all were intelligent men."

Notes:

1. The 1860 Federal Census lists John Adams (age 18) and his brother Isaac (age 27) at home in Groveland, Essex County, Massachusetts. Both listed their occupations as shoemakers. They resided with their parents Isaac and Margaret. The 1850 Federal Census lists an older brother Asa F. Adams, then 23, who would have been about 35 in 1862.

2. John G.B. Adams, Reminiscences of the Nineteenth Massachusetts Regiment, (Boston: Wright, Potter Printing Company, 1899). This account was transcribed by Kerry Webb from a copy of Capt. Adams' book held in the National Library of Australia. The transcription can be retrieved at http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/Mass19.html.

3. "The Nineteenth Regiment was on the extreme right of the second line of battle, the Minnesota regiment being on the right of the first line, when the Minnesota was the last regiment in its line to leave the position, and was immediately followed by the Nineteenth." Official Report by Captain Harrison Gray Otis Weymouth, Bolivar, Virginia, September 29, 1862. 4. Col. Edward Winslow Hinks or Hincks. 5. George W. Batchelder was a 23 year old lawyer from Salem, Massachusetts. Commissioned 1st Lt. August 1861 and commissioned Captain March 1862. 6. Lt. Col. Arthur Forrester Devereux (1838-1906). 7. Col. Hinks (Hincks) survived his wounds. "In November 1862 he was appointed Brigadier General of Volunteers, and served on court martial and recruiting duty, was a prison camp commander, and commanded the 3rd Division/XVIII Corps (US Colored Troops) at Petersburg. He then had draft and recruitment duties. Continuing in US Army service he was Lt. Colonel of the 40th US Infantry in 1866, transferred to the 25th Infantry in March 1869, and retired at the rank of Colonel in December 1870. He died on February 4, 1894 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. " Retrieved from Brian Downey's definitive Antietam website: Antietam on the Web at http://aotw.org/officers.php?officer_id=268&from=results . 8. Isaac Adams.

9. Mary Lee was one of the leading organizers of the Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon founded on May 26, 1861. Frank H. Taylor, Philadelphia in the Civil War, 1861-1865 (Philadelphia: Published by the City, 1913), p. 207. See further, Marjorie Barstow Greenbie, Lincoln's Daughters of Mercy (New York: G.B. Putnam's Sons, 1944).

10. The 72nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment was organized in Philadelphia.

11. Probably William H. Lee, Company A, 72nd Pennsylvania. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5; prepared in compliance with acts of the legislature, by Samuel P. Bates. Author: Bates, Samuel P. (Samuel Penniman), 1827-1902.

12. Aaron and Betsy Spofford sent three of their sons to war from Boxford. Daniel W. Spofford (b. 11.30.34) enlisted in Company A of the 19th Massachusetts on August 9, 1861 and was mustered in two days later for a duration of three years. His wound put him in the hospital where he remained until October 12, when he again joined his regiment. His brother, Aaron (b. 4.20.33), had enlisted in Company E of the 12th Massachusetts on June 11 and was mustered in June 26 for three years. Aaron was killed at the Second Battle of Bull Run on August 30, 1862. Their older brother was Phineas F. Spofford. Sidney Perley, History of Boxford, Essex County, Massachusetts, From the Earliest Settlement Known to the Present Time: A Period of about Two Hundred and Thirty Years (Boxford, MA: Published by the Author, 1880), p. 324.

Phineas F. Spofford was captain of Company D of the 8th S.C. He survived the war and in 1870 was living in Cheraw, South Carolina. He left the family home sometime before 1850 since that year's census shows him living and working in neighboring Georgetown. He was 22 and was listed as a shoemaker. He was living in company housing provided by a shoe factory probably owned by Luther D. Perley, listed in Census as "shoe manufacturer." The Spofford and Perley families were related by marriage at the turn of the century and there may have been some sort of familial arrangement that brought Phineas into the Perley shoe manufacturing business in Georgetown. What brought Phineas to South Carolina and into the 8th South Carolina remains a mystery. By 1860 he had established residence in the large household of South Carolina native R.L. Edgeworth in Chesterfield, South Carolina. One of Phineas' housemates was J.W. Kibbin, a shoemaker from Massachusetts. He remained in South Carolina after the war--the 1870 Census shows him living in Cheraw--and ten years later he had moved back to Chesterfield where he assumed duties as the town sheriff, was a bachelor, and "resided" with five men listed as prisoners. Perley, ibid., p. 324; Memoirs of Robert E. Lee, eds. Armistead Lindsay Long, Marcus Joseph Wright, (New York: J.M. Stoddart, 1886), p. 664; (http://www.aciglobal.com/claunch/1870ches.html); D. Augustus Dickert, History of Kershaw's Brigade (Project Guttenberg eBook, release date August 6, 2004 [eBook #13124]; 1850 Federal Census for Massachusetts; History and Genealogy of the Perley Family, M.V.B Perley, compiler (Salem, MA., self published, 1906), p. 80 and retrieved at http://www.archive.org/stream/historyandgenea00perlgoog/historyandgenea00perlgoog_djvu.txt; 1870 and 1880 Federal Census for South Carolina.

13. George H. Patch (1844-1887), Company I, 19th Massachusetts. Patch survived the war and settled in Framingham, Massachusetts. Adams, op. cit.; Historical Data Systems, comp.. U.S. Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009; 1880 U.S. Census for Massachusetts.

Images:

First: Detail from Carman/Cope map, Library of Congress.

Second: Life Magazine Collection, Google Images.