The emancipation of slaves in Washington, D.C., had prompted more than 1,000 escaped slaves from Maryland to seek shelter in the capital only to be subject to violations of the Fugitive Slave Law
Rebels blow up Merrimac after fall of Norfolk May 11, 1862.
We at The Republican are launching a four-year project to tell the story of how our community coped with 48 months of war, from April of 1861 to April of 1865.
On the first Sunday of each month we will run a report of what was happening here 150 years ago during that month.
• Parts 1 - 9 -- April 1861 - December 1861
• Part 10 -- January 1862: Storm-ravaged Springfield troops live to fight another day
• Part 11 -- February 1862: 1st battle of the 27th Massachusetts a 'glorious victory'
• Part 13 -- April 1862: Springfield native unsung hero of Shiloh, slavery ends in Washington D.C.
On May 1, 1862 the first regiment of Union soldiers marched into New Orleans. Most of them were boys from Western Massachusetts who were there to enforce an occupation that would last throughout the Civil War.
The 31st Massachusetts had been recruited in the four western counties and trained in Pittsfield. New Orleans, the biggest city in the Confederacy, had surrendered the week before and the surly mobs were being held back by a handful of Marines and the threat of cannons from the U.S. fleet.
At this point in the war three regiments from Western Massachusetts were now deployed. The 10th was at the Siege of Yorktown, the 27th in North Carolina, and the 31st in New Orleans. Thousand of soldiers and sailors from the four western counties were in other units scattered across the country and the seas.
On that first day of May, under the heading “Miscellaneous War News,” The Republican ran a speculative story on the possibility that the rebels could make “a grand strike on Washington” while the Army of the Potomac was busy capturing the Confederate capital of Richmond.
The same article of miscellaneous news quoted a New York Tribune correspondent as reporting that Gen. David Hunter was preparing to clothe and arm “loyal blacks” in North Carolina to fight for the Union cause.
There was also mention of the dreaded southern iron-clad “The Merrimac” heading out of Norfolk to destroy the Union armored ship “Monitor.”
One sentence reported the death at Shiloh of rebel officer Samuel B. Todd, brother of First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln. Another short item announced the promotion of William T. Sherman to major general.
Back on the homefront there was excitement over Bailey’s menagerie and circus coming to town, and the dedication of Central Hall in the new Union Block on Main Street. On May 2 a new dance called “Burnside’s Reel” would be introduced at the dedication and one of the instruments to be used by the orchestra was described as a “violincello” which had been captured by a member of the regimental band of the 27th Mass. at the Battle of Newbern, N.C., a victory commanded by Burnside
The Republican reported that Henry Warner, clerk of the Massasoit House, had returned to Springfield after attending to his brother Lt. George Warner, who had been wounded at Newbern. The lieutenant was now in the hospital at New York.
The newspaper frequently reported the movement of wounded soldiers by train either to or through Springfield. The following article ran in The Republican:
“The Wason Manufacturing Co. recently refitted, for the Western Railroad, two passenger cars of the New York and Boston express line for the special conveyance of wounded soldiers. About half of the seats have been taken out and their places filled with berths, six on a side, which are furnished with hair mattresses and pillows and blankets.”
The cars were designed to hold 30 soldiers each, 12 in berths and others in seats. Over the next few months they would get a lot of use.
On May 5th, The Republican reported that the month-long Siege of Yorktown had ended, not in a great battle as expected, but in the stealthily withdrawal of the Confederate Army during the night. But they left behind “presents” for the Union troops. Rebel Gen. Gabriel Rains had instructed his men to rig artillery shells to go off either by trip wire or foot pressure. The land mine had entered into modern warfare and would be refined by Rains throughout the war.
Illustration of a land mine exploding among Union troops at YorktownThe first casualty was a Union horseman killed 150 years ago by the first roadside bomb.
Land mine inventor Gen. Gabriel RainsOn the day the news from Yorktown, Va., was announced The Republican also ran a story quoting now retired Gen. Winfield Scott predicting that the war would be virtually over by the 1st of July. It wasn’t the first time he predicted, wrongly, the impending end of the war.
On May 9th The Republican reported that the arsonsist who had been plaguing Springfield for more than two years had struck again. Fire broke out at the planing shops of Daniel Colton at the foot of Howard Street, spread to adjoining buildings and “consumed several small houses.” Colton had canceled his insurance policy the week before.
On the same day the fire was reported news of an engagement near Williamsburg, Va., appeared in The Republican. It would be the first major engagement of Gen. McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign. It was essentially a rear-guard action of a portion of the rebel army which had been dispatched to delay the Union troops who had been pursuing them from Yorktown. By the time it ended, the Union had suffered 2,282 casualties, the Confederates 1,682. Hadley native Brig. Gen. Joseph Hooker’s troops fought valiantly.
The 10th Massachusetts had been on a forced march to catch up to the battle, but the troops who had been the first to leave Springfield in 1861, arrived just as the rebels were retreating back towards Richmond. They had missed their first taste of battle but were around to view the horrors of war as they helped bury dead and attend to wounded on both sides.
“A lover of horrors here could find his fill in viewing the mangled remains of victor and vanquished, and contemplating the dying positions,” wrote one soldiers from the 10th regiment.
On May 12, The Republican reported, “Norfolk has fallen and the Merrimac is destroyed, is the glorious intelligence that comes to us from Fortress Monroe.”
The rebels withdrew from Norfolk as 5,000 Union troops marched on the port city. Most of the ship-building facilities were burned and the dreaded ironclad was taken out of the harbor and blown up. Pieces of the ship washed up on shore and were kept as mementos and at least one found its way back to Springfield. Currier & Ives soon came out with a color illustration of the exploding gunboat.
On the day of the news of the Merrimac, The Republican also reported that “Lt. George Warner of the 27th Regiment has returned home. His foot was shot off at the Battle of Newbern, and he has undergone two amputations.”
It was also reported that the Chicopee Manufacturing Company purchased a large quantity of cotton and will start up a new mill in addition to the two already running. Also in Chicopee, the Massachusetts Arms Co., was reportedly turning out 600 Smith’s carbines per month for the Army and would soon increase that to 1,000.
For those of us who think California wines are a recent phenomenon, The Republican reported on May 16, 1862, “California is to become one of the most important grape-growing and wine-producing regions of the world.”
Also on May 16 it was reported that the body of the hero of Shiloh, Col. Everett Peabody, was being returned to Springfield after being disinterred from the battlefield for burial in Springfield Cemetery. A funeral attended by hundreds in Boston was held the day before the Springfield ceremony.
Col. Everett Peabody grave in Springfield CemeteryOn the arrival of the train carrying the body of the fallen hero a cannon salute was fired, his body was taken from the train at Springfield depot by a hearse drawn by four black horses as Colt’s Army Band of Hartford played dirges and a procession of 30 carriages traveled down streets lined by hundreds to the Unitarian Church where Peabody’s father had served as pastor.
The following day another train pulled into the depot carrying 60 sick and wounded soldiers from throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
In addition to reporting the news of the death of Henry David Thoreau, the newspapers of that week had several reports from Europe that gauged the sentiment on the war there. They were signed by S.B. That would be Samuel Bowles, editor of The Republican who was traveling on the continent.
By the middle of May the slavery question was raging on several fronts. The emancipation of slaves in Washington, D.C., had prompted more than 1,000 escaped slaves from Maryland to seek shelter in the capital only to be subject to violations of the Fugitive Slave Law. Meanwhile Lincoln denounced General Hunter’s proclamation to free and arm slaves in North Carolina.
“Neither General Hunter, nor any other commander, or person, has been authorized by the Government of the United States, to make proclamations declaring the slaves of any State free; and that the supposed proclamation, now in question, whether genuine or false, is altogether void, so far as respects such declaration,” wrote the president in a declaration of his own, which stated unequivocally that only he had the right to decide these issues, not commanders in the field.
As the month drew to a close Gen. Robert Anderson, the hero of Fort Sumter visited Springfield and spent two days at the Armory, the shad fishery on the Connecticut was having a banner year, and Gen. Nathaniel Banks had to withdraw to Baltimore from Front Royal Md., putting the nation’s capital in jeopardy. Panic ensued and Gov. Andrews of Massachusetts, on May 26, put out an urgent call for more troops.
Greenfield native Gen. Rufus SaxtonOn May 29th, The Republican ran a story entitled “The Panic is Over.” The governor had called back the militia units which were already on their way to Washington. He explained that the orders were sent out following an urgent call from Lincoln.
On May 30th, Stonewall Jackson’s forces attacked Harper’s Ferry and were repulsed by Union general Rufus Saxton, a Greenfield native who would be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions.
On the last day of the month, a Saturday, The Republican weekly summary proclaimed “this has been the most extraordinary week of the whole war — a week of needless defeat and retreat, and of sudden panic a quick reassurance.”
What the readers in Western Massachusetts didn’t know was many of their sons, brothers, fathers and friends of the 10th Massachusetts were fighting for their lives on that last day of May in what would become known as the Battle of Fair Oaks. News would not reach Springfield until the first week of June.