The Patriot and the Sculpturer, Both are Well-known. One Didn't Come Back

Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial

During the fall, I took a detour from my own research of ancestors to that of finding out about some important people I've learned about through my New England travels. Three individuals were highlighted in a museum or a National Historic site. The first of these was Augustus Saint-Gaudens, of whom I blogged about his fabulous summer home and studio in New Hampshire. Because of his sculpture of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial also known as the Shaw Memorial (see left and below) in Boston, a piece of work that I had seen, now suddenly interested me enough to learn about Robert Gould Shaw (the officer on the horse). The trail of Mr. Shaw took me from New Hampshire to several places in Massachusetts, a nice hands-on method of learning.

I soon learned the history of the 54th, through reading and getting out the movie, "Glory" to watch. Eventually, I discovered that "When Shaw was five the family moved to a large estate in West Roxbury, adjacent to Brook Farm." That in its self was enough to excite me, because two months prior I wrote about my 2nd great-grandfather surveying Brook Farm. I wonder if my ancestor ever saw young Robert Gould Shaw.

Apart from his young life, I was curious as to where Robert Gould Shaw was buried. A discovery thanks to Find A Grave led me to Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts brought a huge smile and I knew within a few days, I would find his tombstone. Photos are below. 

The names of his parents, wife, and other family members are engraved on the back of the stone.

On the grounds of Augustus Saint-Gaudens' property is a near replica of his memorial in Boston.

While preparing this post, I realized I didn't have a photo of the original, in Boston. I have been by it many times, but there were always too many buses and tourists around. So on a very cold December day, my husband and I went to the city just so I could take the above picture. It was quite overcast, and this is definitely not my best shot. I'll try for another one, maybe when the trees are green.

The above photo of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial may be seen out this window. Behind it is the Boston Common. This was taken from inside the State House. No, I couldn't believe my luck when I looked out the window.

Links to Robert Gould Shaw's life and the Massachusetts 54th Regiment are below.

Thanks to Pam Seavey Schaffner for posting on Facebook a video done by the American History channel called American Artifacts Preview: Shaw Memorial.
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http://www.masshist.org/online/54thregiment/essay.php?entry_id=528

http://www.nps.gov/boaf/historyculture/shaw.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Gould_Shaw_Memorial

http://www.massmoments.org/moment.cfm?mid=157

Acton, Massachusetts -- Men in the Spanish American War 1898

Acton Men in the Spanish American War

1898

U.S.W.V.

Wm. F. Dusseault

Chaplain 6th Regt. U.S.M.

Arthur G. Knowlton

George A. Forrest

Robert C. Maines

William H. Hill

Thomas J. Manion

Charles H. Whitney

Walter L. Tuttle

Fred L. Tuttle

Herbert W. Owen

Hamie S. Greenough

Oliver D. Wood

Clarence Desseault

Tombstone Tuesday -- Joshua L. Chamberlain

Every time I go to Brunswick, Maine, I pass by the Pine Grove Cemetery where Joshua Chamberlain was buried and once lived. Although I have been by it many times, it was during my recent visit I finally stopped to see his burial site, his home, and the campus of Bowdoin College, where he worked as professor and president. Joshua wore many hats, including that of the Civil War hero and Governor of Maine.

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

Born: September 8, 1828, Brewer, Penobscot Co., Maine

Died:  February 24, 1914, Portland, Cumberland Co., Maine

Buried at Pine Grove Cemetery, Brunswick, Maine

Find A Grave link

My husband and his uncle visiting the grave site.

Tombstone Tuesday -- Memorial To Solon A. Perkins

"I OFTEN THINK IT MORE BLESSED TO DIE ON THE BATTLEFIELD FOR ONES COUNTRY, THAN TO LIVE LONG YEARS IN CIVIL LIFE."

FROM CEMETERY STONE OF SOLON A. PERKINS.

BURIED LOWELL CEMETERY, LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS

(Front) SOLONA A., SON OF APOLLOS AN D WEALTHY PERKINS, BORN DEC. 6, 1836, KILLED IN BATTLE NEAR PORT HUDSON, JUNE 3, 1863.

A DUTIFUL SON AND AFFECTIONATE BROTHER. WELL HE PERFORMED HIS DUTY IN LIFE, AND DIED BRAVELY IN THE DEFENCE [sic] OF HIS COUNTRY AND OF LIBERTY.


(2nd side) HE HELPED RECRUIT A COMPANY OF CAVALRY IN THE FALL OF 1861 AND RECEIVING THE COMMISSION OF I' LIEUT. WENT OUT WITH GEN. BUTLERS EXPEDITION TO THE GULF. HIS CAPTAIN BEING LOST OVERBOARD NEAR FORT JACKSON APRIL '62, HE COMMANDED THE COMPANY FROM THAT TIME TILL HE FELL. HE WAS A TRUE TYPE OF THE CAVALRY OFFICER, DASHING, BRILLIANT, BRAVE AND HIGHLY STRATEGIC AND FOR THESE QUALITIES WAS OFTEN COMPLIMENTED BY HIS SUPERIOR OFFICERS. IN A LETTER URGING HIS PROMOTION TO THE RANK OF MAJOR. GEN. WEITZEL SPOKE OF HIM AS;

(Back) "THE MAN WHO TO-DAY HAS THE FINEST AND MOST SERVICEABLE CAVALRY COMPANY TO WHOM IS DUE THE HONOR OF MAKING IT WHAT IT IS. WHO IS THE BRAVEST AND ABLEST OF OFFICERS, AND HAS ACCOMPLISHED MORE THAN ANY OFFICER IN THIS DEPARTMENT. HE HAD DESERVED PROMOTION (HE SAID) BY HIS ABILITY, HIS INDUSTRY, HIS EFFICIENCY, HIS BRAVERY AND HIS SUCCESS." THIS RECOMMENDATION WAS APPROVED BY GEN. BANKS, AND THE MAJORS COMMISSION MADE OUT BUT NEVER REACHED HIM. DURING THE LAST YEAR OF HIS SERVICE HE WAS CONSTANTLY SKIRMISHING WITH THE ENEMY:

(4th side) HE LED GEN. BANKS' ADVANCE TO RED RIVER AND PORT HUDSON WAS FOUR TIMES WOUNDED AND HAD SEVEN HORSES KILLED UNDER HIM. VERY FEW COULD BEAR HARDSHIP TO THE SAME EXTENT OR WITH LESS INJURY: YET IN A LETTER CLOSED THE DAY BEFORE HE FELL, HE SAID, "I WOULD RATHER LOSE AN ARM THAN ENDURE WHAT I HAVE ASIDE FROM MY WOUNDS, THE LAST EIGHT MONTHS."
THE CHANGES OF WAR HE COUNTED FROM THE START AND IN THAT LAST LETTER HE SAID, "I OFTEN THINK IT MORE BLESSED TO DIE ON THE BATTLEFIELD FOR ONES COUNTRY, THAN TO LIVE LONG YEARS IN CIVIL LIFE."

Update: March 26, 2015  --  https://www.facebook.com/lowellvets/photos/a.660695387330671.1073741827.660652214001655/962288920504648/?type=1&fref=nf

Perkins Flag Rededication 
When: Sunday, May 31, 2015 10:00am to Noon 
Where: Lowell Memorial Auditorium Home of the Greater Lowell Veterans’ Council East Merrimack St. – Lowell, MA 01852 
Remarks by: Mayor Rodney Elliott
Perkins’ History by: Richard P. Howe Jr.

Civil War Pension Research: Union Soldiers

Union Soldiers

When David Allen Lambert speaks, I listen. He has been an employee of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) for at long as I've been going there, a good 15 years. He knows his stuff, especially cemeteries, genealogy research and military history and records.

Recently he posted a link via Facebook, to his NEHGS lecture titled, "Civil War Pension Research: Union Soldiers," and I immediately asked him if I could copy it to my blog. Without hesitation, he gave me permission to post his talk on researching your Union Civil War Ancestor. There are 26 slides ranging from 16 seconds to 1.39 seconds, each covering a type of document possibly found in the pension file. The pension research lecture starts up immediately and the nice thing about it is, you can start and stop, replay as many times as you like. This makes for easy note taking.


Don't  miss viewing slides #12 and 16, covering Forms 3-447 and 3-389.

The Minutemen of 1861 -- First Soldiers to Die in Civil War Were From Lowell

Ladd and Whitney
Civil War
Monument

Recently, Richard "Dick" Howe Jr.*, the Register of Deeds for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, for No. Middlesex County, gave a talk about Lowell's involvement in the Civil War, which included how the first deaths occurred in the war. Two of the first four soldiers who died in the Civil War were mill workers from Lowell, Massachusetts. Luther C. Ladd age 17 and Addison O. Whitney age 22 eagerly signed up with the Massachusetts 6th regiment of Volunteers and traveled south to Baltimore, Maryland to meet their fate. The talk explains the early history of the war, shows a lot of slides and presents a great narrative. If you are interested in the War, you will enjoy this talk, click HERE.



My title, The Minutemen of 1861, was taken from information from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts's webpage. And, some below information from that site is shared below.

"Massachusetts 6th infantry had been organized in January of 1861. They assembled and moved from Lowell to Boston, where they were outfitted; given their charge by Governor John Andrew and set off for Washington, DC on April 17th.

As was customary from the revolutionary war, Massachusetts's Governor presented the sixth regiment with a distinctive flag to carry in battle. The honor of a regiment was bound to its flag.

The regiment passed through New York and Philadelphia by train, reaching Baltimore on April 19th, 1861 -- the 86th anniversary of the "shot heard round the world" in Lexington and Concord. Little did the troops realize that they would fire their own shots heard round the world, and that the first union casualties in the war of rebellion would come from the sixth regiment later that day.

In Baltimore a local ordinance prevented steam engines from operating within city limits. Paul O'Neil, an interpreter for the Baltimore Civil War Museum, explains this ordinance was likely designed to benefit teamsters, who provided horse service through town to connect the city's train stations. So, the sixth regiment rode in train cars drawn by horses from Baltimore's Presidential Station to the Camden Yards station.

Seven of the ten cars carrying the 6th regiment made it before a growing mob blocked the tracks with sand and ship anchors. Once stopped, the soldiers began marching down Pratt Street in formation.

There on Pratt Street, the Civil War began to be fought. The incensed crowd hurled bricks, cobblestones, and any other objects within reach at the troops.

However, the young troops from Massachusetts disported themselves with military discipline. The regimental color was carried by Color Sergeant Timothy A. Crowley of Lowell.

Chaplain Babbidge, who was with the regiment that day wrote, "paving stones flew thick and fast, some just grazing their heads, and some hitting the standard itself." Shots from handguns came from the crowd, the Massachusetts regiment returned fire.

It is believed that 16 people were killed in the melee, including four soldiers - Luther C. Ladd and Addison Otis Whitney of Lowell, a Mr. Needham of Lawrence, and Mr. Taylor, whose history is unknown. These four became the first to serve and die on the 19th of April, 1861."

Photos and write-ups located on FindAGrave.


From Wikipedia, The History of Lowell, Massachusetts provides valuable information.


Another good site.


Finally, from a Google search, using the key words: "Ladd Whitney Lowell Civil War" I found a wealth of information on these men, Lowell and the Civil War.

The actual dedication was moved to June 17, 1865, due to
President Lincoln's death.

 * Dick is also a local historian for the city. Last year, he gave a tour of the Lowell Cemetery, and that was a blog post of mine.

Ladd and Whitney Monument and the Lowell City Hall.