Fall 2011 - Sandwich Glass Museum

THE
ACORN
Journal of The Sandwich Glass Museum
Sandwich & The Civil War | A Civil War Diary
The Acorn • Fall 2011 1
Sandwich & The Civil War
by William F. Daley
Sandwich Historical Commission
The Sandwich Guards ­–
29th Regiment, Company D
O
n April 12, 1861, the American Civil War
began with the Confederate bombardment
of Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina.
The shelling rapidly escalated into a series of actions
including President Lincoln’s call for 75,000 troops to
put down the rebellion. They were to be raised from
the state militias to serve a term of 3 months of active
duty; a clear indication that this would be enough time
to put the Rebels in their place. It would soon become
apparent that 3 months would not get the job done
and that the enlistments would need to be extended
for a longer time.
One week after the attack on Fort Sumter, the 6th
Massachusetts Regiment (organized in January 1861)
was one of the first military units to respond to Lincoln’s
call for troops. It was comprised of men from the
manufacturing towns of Lawrence and Lowell and they
were ordered to Washington to defend the nation’s
capital from possible Confederate invasion. When the
troop train crossed into the border state of Maryland
and reached Baltimore, a violent incident occurred that
would quickly involve the small glass making town of
Sandwich, on Cape Cod. Because the rail line did not
pass through Baltimore, horse drawn wagons had to
take the infantrymen from one end of the city to the
other. An angry mob of secessionists blocked their way
forcing the soldiers to march through the streets and
the jeering crowds followed in close pursuit throwing
bricks and stones. The situation evolved into a full scale
riot and when it was over; 4 men from the 6th were
dead along with 12 civilians and scores were injured.
Major Charles Chipman
2 The Acorn • Fall 2011
The news of the Baltimore Riot and the attack on the
6th Regiment reached the outraged citizens of Sandwich
the next day. With only a few hours notice, a very large
meeting of residents was held on Saturday evening,
April 20, 1861, in the upstairs hall of Sandwich Town
Hall. The records show that it was called, “to devise
ways and means for the [sic] raising a company of troops
for the defense of the country”. The meeting was called
to order by Theodore Kern, the Superintendent of the
Boston & Sandwich Glass Company. Dr. Jonathan
Leonard, the town’s physician, was chosen to preside.
(Subsequently, Dr. Leonard would marry the widow
of glass entrepreneur, John Jarves.) After appropriate
remarks were made, the voters approved a $20 bounty
for each man who enlisted. The attendees pledged a
sum of $626 and a committee was formed to canvass
the town and raise the balance of the bounty money.
In the meantime, recruitment progressed rapidly and
by May 6th, the 100 man company was nearly complete. It was the practice at that time for each unit to
name its officers and Charles Chipman was selected as
Captain because of his leadership skills and because
he had once served in the regular army as a Sergeant.
The newly formed company adopted the name, “Sandwich Guards”. Two days later, the Sandwich Guards
were headed to Boston to make their way to Fortress
Monroe in Virginia. Like the other newly formed forces,
their enlistment was for only 3 months. A large crowd
gathered at the railway station on Jarves Street to bid
them farewell.
It was only the next day that they were shocked to learn
that the rules had changed and they were told that
they needed to volunteer for 3 years to be accepted
as part of the US forces! Stunned, the men agreed that
they had to return to Sandwich to make adequate
preparations for so long a tour of duty. They arrived
back in town that evening and immediately proceeded
to the Town Hall where Captain Chipman called the roll
and with only a single exception, all the men agreed to
serve the new 3 year enlistment.
On Sunday, May 11, the voters were again summoned
to Town Hall and they authorized the town to borrow
$4, 000 to support the families of the men who would
be left behind. A wife would receive $2 per week; a wife
and child, $3; and 50 cents per week for each additional
child. The town also voted $500 to purchase the uniforms of the officers­—the state paid for the clothing
of the enlisted men. The ladies of the town equipped
the soldiers with needles, thread, towels, undergarments and other necessities. Deming Jarves, owner of
the Cape Cod Glass Works had a number of tenement
houses in town and offered free rent to the families of
those who volunteered for the war.
A week later the entire company appeared at Town Hall
where they were given their new company flag which
was donated by the owner of the Barnstable Patriot
newspaper, Major Phinney. Part of the flag contained
the words, “The Right Arm of Massachusetts”, a reference
to the geographic shape of Cape Cod, and below that
was the motto, “God Speed the Right”. They marched to
the railway station and were escorted by the Sandwich
Coronet Band and nearly the entire town. The men
formed Company D and were initially made part of the
3rd Regiment, but shortly thereafter they became part
of the 29th Regiment and remained Company D, the
Sandwich Guards.
They were the first all Cape military unit to be called to
the front and the 29th participated in 29 pitched battles
including Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg,
Petersburg and Spotsylvania. They also took part in
the 4 great sieges of the war, namely Richmond, 1862;
Vicksburg, 1863; Knoxville, 1863 and Petersburg, 1864.
In the spring of 1864, those not re-enlisting were
transferred to the 36th Regiment and in June 1864, the
Sandwich Guards were mustered out and they returned
to a grateful Sandwich. They were given a royal welcome.
Shops, stores and factories were closed as well as the
schools and a great crowd gathered for the parade that
was given them. A light meal was served at Town Hall
and in the evening, they were presented with a Grand
Ball. It was good to be home.
Major Charles Chipman
Captain Charles Chipman of the Sandwich Guards had
performed ably during his service and in early 1864
he re-enlisted for another tour of duty. He had been
promoted to Major and was temporarily transferred to
the 14th New York Heavy Artillery as its commanding
officer and was awaiting his papers appointing him to
the rank of Colonel. By the middle of 1864, he and his
men were engaged in the siege of Petersburg, Virginia
just south of the Confederate capital of Richmond.
The Acorn • Fall 2011 3
Late in the afternoon of August 7, 1864, Rebel forces
opened a furious line of fire on the 14th New York.
Major Chipman was in his tent writing a letter to his
wife when the firing began. He quickly left the tent to
take command of his troops and almost immediately
was mortally wounded by the fragments of a large
Rebel mortar shell which exploded near him. Major
Chipman was moved to a field hospital, but died the
next morning.
His body was embalmed carefully and returned to his
home in Sandwich where it was received by his wife
Elizabeth. The burial services began at the Unitarian
Church on Main Street. Out of respect, the businesses in
town were closed and the flags were flown at half mast.
It took more than an hour for the saddened townspeople to file past his casket at the front of the church.
The funeral procession walked down Main Street to the
Freeman Cemetery where he was buried.
Charles Chipman was born and raised at 211 Main
Street in Sandwich and he graduated from the Sandwich
Academy. He married a local girl, Lizzie Freeman Gibbs
and they had 3 children. He worked as a mechanic
before the outbreak of the Civil War. He was the highest
ranking officer from Sandwich to lose his life during the
war. In 1882, the Grand Army of the Republic, a Civil War
veteran’s organization, approved Post 132 for Sandwich
and it was named the Charles Chipman Post in honor
of the slain officer. Its headquarters was on the second
floor of the dry goods store at 3 Jarves Street which is
presently the wine shop of the Brown Jug.
The Sandwich Glass Museum proudly displays an
elegant knee length oil portrait of the Major. It was
donated to the museum in 1939 by the Major’s grandson, Francis E. Jones. The painting has an interesting
provenance. It was part of a collection called the,
“Gallery of Fallen Heroes”. There were more than 100
paintings in the collection of men who had died in the
Civil War. They were originally on display at a Boston
gallery owned by a German who called himself Count
Schwabe. He lost possession of them as a result of
personal bankruptcy and the paintings were sold at
auction. Major Chipman’s portrait was generously
purchased by Sergeant Samuel C. Wright, a Medal of
Honor recipient, who served in the 29th, Company E.
His intention was to present it as a gift to the Chipman
family, however the veteran’s Association insisted upon
sharing the cost and in a fitting ceremony on May 14,
1873; the painting was presented to Lizzie Chipman
and her 3 young children.
Major Chipman’s burial marker.
4 The Acorn • Fall 2011
Service and Sacrifice
The men of Sandwich rallied to support the war effort
and many joined other military units after the Sandwich Guards were formed in 1861. Approximately 400
townsmen joined up to fight for the Union cause and
Sandwich provided more fighters than any other town
on the Cape. Included in the town’s recruits were about
100 workers from the glass factories. The glass operations in town lost so many workers that it would take
about a year for the operations to return to pre-war
productivity. Glass making is a coordinated effort by a
team of skilled workers and it took a while to restore
the precisions of the teams.
Above: Charles Chipman Post 132.
Built as a store by Samuel W. Hunt (1842-1929) just after the
Civil War, it housed his dry goods and shoe business. The
building also included an upper floor with an outside stairway,
known as Hunt’s Hall. For over 50 years it was the meeting
place for the Charles Chipman Post 132 of the Grand Army of
the Republic, which was founded by Hunt and fellow veterans.
Benjamin G. Bartley purchased the store in the 1880s.
In the photograph the store was decorated for the town’s
250th anniversary celebration in 1889. The store remains
today at 1 Jarves Street.
Below: Sandwich Town Hall.
The American Civil War lasted for 4 long, terrible and
bloody years. By the time the war ended, 625,000 service men had lost their lives from disease, wounds and
battle deaths To put that number into perspective, it is
more than the total US deaths in World War I, World War
II , the Korean War and the Vietnam War, combined.
Sandwich did not escape the tragedies of the war. In
this small town of 4,500 people, 54 soldiers lost their
lives, including 13 glass workers. A record of those dead
is shown on the following page.
The Acorn • Fall 2011 5
Sandwich Men who Died in Military Service during the Civil War 1861-1865
DOA = died of Accident • DOD = died of disease • DOW = died of wounds
KIA = killed in action • POW = prisoner of war
Names in italics indicate glass workers
6 The Acorn • Fall 2011
It should be said that without William Eaton, there
would be no Civil War Memorial in Sandwich for town
records show that a committee was formed in 1867 to
explore the proper way to honor the Civil War dead,
but the town ultimately voted to indefinitely postpone
the enterprise and nothing was ever done until Eaton
donated his monument in 1911.
Martha Hassell, former Curator at the Sandwich Glass
Museum, captured the meaning of Eaton’s monument
in an article she wrote 30 years ago. She said, “Although
it was particularly those men whom Eaton was honoring in erecting his monument, he was also remembering all the workers of the Boston & Sandwich Glass
Factory who had played such an important role in his
life. Therefore, it seems appropriate that the monument
should be placed not only near the town, but also facing the Sandwich Glass Museum where so many beautiful pieces of Sandwich glass are on display”.
Sources for Article
Archives at the Sandwich Glass Museum/Sandwich
Historical Society.
Archives at the Sandwich Public Library.
Barnstable Patriot [Barnstable, MA]. Newspaper.
Lovell, Jr., Russell A. Sandwich, A Cape Cod Town.
Sandwich, MA: Town of Sandwich, Massachusetts,
Sandwich Archives and Historical Center, 1984. Print.
Civil War Monument
Beside Town Hall, there is a Civil War Monument that
was erected in memory of the Soldiers and Sailors
from Sandwich. It was dedicated 50 years after the war
began and 100 years ago on May 30, 1911. It was the
gift of a wealthy and kind businessman from Brockton,
Massachusetts named William Eaton.
Mr. Eaton was not always a rich man. In fact he was
desperately poor in 1856 when he went to work at the
Boston & Sandwich Glass factory at age 8. His father, a
glass worker, had died and young Billy had to become
the head of the family. He overcame obstacles, persevered and ultimately prospered. William Eaton donated
the 30 foot monument in memory of his father and to
all the Soldiers and Sailors from Sandwich who served
in the Civil War. He knew many of them from his early
glass factory days including his first cousin, Joseph
Warren Eaton, who died in 1869 from wounds suffered
in the Battle of the Wilderness. He was a member of the
Sandwich Guards.
Osborne, William H. The History of the Twenty-Ninth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry: In the Late War
of the Rebellion. Boston: Albert Wright, Printer, 1877. Print.
Yarmouth Register [Yarmouth, MA]. Newspaper.
Sources for Information Page 6
Archives at the Sandwich Glass Museum/Sandwich
Historical Society.
Archives at the Sandwich Public Library.
The Independent [Sandwich, MA]. 25 May1895. Newspaper.
MA Civil War Regimental Records.
MA Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in the Civil War.
Miller, Stauffer. Cape Cod and the Civil War. Charleston, SC:
History Press. 2010. Print.
Osborne, William H. The History of the Twenty-Ninth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry: In the Late War
of the Rebellion. Boston: Albert Wright, Printer, 1877. Print.
Sandwich Census Records: 1850, 1860,1870.
Sandwich Vital Records, deaths: 1861-1865.
Yarmouth Register [Yarmouth, MA]. 19 February, 4 March,
24 June, 12 August 1864. Newspaper.
The Acorn • Fall 2011 7
A Civil War Diary
by Dorothy G. Hogan-Schofield
Curator of Collections, Sandwich Glass Museum
W
ithin days of shots being fired at Fort Sumpter,
South Carolina, and its surrender on 14 April
1861, Massachusetts was ordered to send
troops to aid the war effort. By 15 April, the New Bedford
City Guard was called into service. George H. Freeman
of Sandwich joined the guard in Boston. He was 23.
After gathering his belongings including a small diary,
he set forth with his Company. So began his journey as
a soldier in Company L of the Third Massachusetts Regiment of the Volunteer Militia Infantry.
expedition, made the choice to destroy as much of
the yard as possible including ships, buildings, and all
materials that could not be removed. The soldiers threw
cutlasses, sabres, shot, and shell into the river. George
“spiked guns, rolled Ball on dock and destroyed all property, with about 550 waiting outside walls.” Every man
worked diligently until they boarded the Pawnee, for the
return trip to Fort Monroe. They arrived on 21 April at 6
am. The Third was the first northern volunteer regiment
to land aggressively on southern soil. (Nasson, 12)
The New Bedford City Guard, under the command of
Captain Timothy Ingraham, assembled on the morning
of 16 April. Known as Company L, the Guard, in full
dress gray uniforms, overcoats, and knapsacks, proceeded
to the train station, where a large crowd greeted them.
By late morning, they arrived in Boston, where troops
began to gather on Boston Common. The next day, the
assembled volunteers passed in review of the statehouse and boarded the steamer S. R. Spaulding, which
was bound for Fortress Monroe¹, Virginia. On the 17th
George Henry Freeman began his journal to chronicle
his three-month enlistment.
George recalled his first days as a soldier in a letter (see
transcription) that was sent home to his parents and
published in a local newspaper. It included an account
of the destruction of the Navy Yard at Norfolk. He described the burning of USS Pennsylvania and USS Merrimack. Unfortunately the Merrimack was only burned to
the waterline. The Confederates subsequently salvaged
the ship and converted her to an armored ironclad.
Commissioned as the CSS Virginia in February 1862, the
following month she made history in combat against
Union warships at Hampton Roads.
According to George, after a rough passage of 48 hours,
the Third Regiment under the command of Colonel
David W. Wardrop arrived at 10:30 am at Fortress Monroe.
By early evening the Regiment embarked on the U. S.
Gunboat Pawnee, with orders to go to the Gosport Navy
Yard at Norfolk. With Confederate forces near at hand,
Commodore Paulding, who was in command of the
8 The Acorn • Fall 2011
1. Fortress Monroe was one of the largest and most heavily fortified fortresses in the United States. It was situated at the tip of a
small peninsula at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay and guarded
the entrance to the Elizabeth and James Rivers. Following
Virginia’s secession, Union forces managed to maintain control
of the large stone fortress throughout the Civil War enforcing the
blockade of Norfolk Harbor.
Upon returning to the Fort, Company L was sworn into
allegiance to the United States on 22 April 1861, and
became part of the garrison of Fort Monroe under the
command of Colonel Justin Dimick. Their duties were
arduous and fatiguing and included the strengthening
of defenses, as well as the unloading, handling, and
storing of enormous amounts of provisions needed for
the troops. In addition the Company was detailed for
the usual guard duty, as well as scouting.
Entries in George’s journal recounted days filled with
guard duty and drills. In his second letter home dated
5 May 1861 (see transcription) he described the return
of Captain Ingraham, who had to leave Company L
due to illness, and the arrival of things from home. In
his journal entry he wrote: “Intense excitement when
the mail came, 8 letters, 14 papers & book…all highly
pleased.” He also described the monotony of his daily
routine and the poor food.
Although the journal was filled with entries similar to
that of 29 April, “Pleasant. Drill. Dress Parade & drill.
Dine. Drill.” the men of Company L prided themselves
upon excellence in skirmishing drills, bayonet exercises
and guard duty. In a description of their skill, Lieutenant
Austin S. Cushman of Company L recounted the following: “ The Regiment won the favor of the regulars, both
officers and men, by its excellent discipline, its strict
attention to the details of guard duty and its precision
in infantry drill. Colonel Dimick, the commandant,
complimented Colonel Wardrop on commanding such
a regiment, though the guard at the sea battery, had
the night before, for not answering upon being thrice
challenged, fired at the boat in which Colonel Dimick
was returning from the “Minnesota” and wounded
the coxswain, near whom Colonel Dimick was seated.”
(Nasson, 14) George noted this incident in his entry for
22 April, “3 shots fired at boat containing Col. Dimick,
wounding 1 man.”
George also noted the many activities of the Fort
including the arrival of the “Sandwich Boys” on May 21,
commanded by Captain Charles Chipman; the capture
of a “secessionist” spy; slaves seeking freedom; and the
firing of cannon balls at ships trying to run the blockade. In his entry for 19 May, George wrote that there
was “Heavy firing from up river from the Monticello”
and, the following day, that “Monticello fired 126 shells,
guns out shell & came home, she had her powder monkey wounded. Top mast slit. Pilot house carried away
& 1 ball through cabin. She got hit 6 times on Sunday
19th.” The USS Monticello was a 655-ton wooden screw
steamer gunboat.
One of the first battles between the North and South
was barely a mention in George’s journal. On 10 June
1861, George wrote “A part 4th Regt. & Germans of NY
& Zouaves of NY attacked a battery. Lieut. Greble was
killed by gun. 1 secessionist officer taken” The “attacked
a battery” referred to the Battle of Big Bethel, a failed
attempt by the Union to push back Confederate troops.
The Battle of Big Bethel held a number of distinctions
including the death of Lieutenant John Trout Greble,
who was the first Regular U. S. Officer and first graduate
of West Point to die in the Civil War. The first Confederate
soldier, Henry L. Wyatt, also died during the battle. Also
The Acorn • Fall 2011 9
Letters from Fort Monroe
The following extracts from a letter recently received by Mr.
David C. Freeman, from Fort Monroe, will be read with interest:
Fort Monroe, May 5th, 1861
We make the following interesting extracts from a letter recently
received by Mr. David C. Freeman, of this town, from his son,
now a member of the New Bedford City Guards, stationed at Fort
Monroe, Virginia:
Dear Parents:
The Country and God called upon us, and I want to show my love
for both by doing what I can for the good cause. You would not
have it said that not one of your sons had pluck enough to fight
for the right. Thank God I have. If I should be unfortunate and fall,
it could not be in a more noble cause. I think we shall be victorious and in a short time. I do not anticipate a long war.
We are all in good spirits and do not have much work to
do. I will give you our regular day’s work. At 5 A.M. we get up,
and after Roll call, Drill and then Breakfast at 8:30; Parade and
inspection of Arms; at 12 M. Dinner; at 4 P.M., Dress parade; at
5:30 Supper; at 6:30, Roll call; at 9 Roll call; and at 9:30 the lights
are extinguished. Sometimes from breakfast to dinner, or from
dinner to tea, we have Fatigue duty or drilling. We have to go on
guard every 6 days (24 hours), 2 hours on and 4 hours off.
There have been a few small schooners taken this week, not
of much account.
This Fort is blockaded, and nothing in the shape of a sail or
vessel is allowed to pass, and ere long they will be starved out at
Norfolk Navy Yard and above this port. I think there is no doubt
but what we shall remain here as long as our term of enlistment and perhaps longer, for it is evident that the Fort must be
manned, and those who are here will have to stay. I do not think
25,000 troops can take it, as the rebels have not the power or
means to do it. There is only a narrow strip of land where the
enemy can approach to attack us, and we can sweep them down
by the quantity.
I do not say that I shall be at home when the 3 months are
up, yet if the Company returns, I shall, though I shall not, be the
first one to leave the seat of war.
We sleep on the floor with our knapsacks for pillows, in our new
quarters, in a brick building, as good as there is in the garrison,
and we are all pleased with it.
We complain more about grub than anything. Pork, Horse
Beef, good bread, no butter, and but one cheese as yet. Beans
and Coffee. But soon we expect Butter, Cheese and Tea. With Butter and Tea I would not complain. We get a very little fresh beef,
now and then, and are having easy times.
Today has been all excitement, and has not seemed like Sunday. This morning there was a report that there was a steamer at
the wharf with more troops for this place and Washington.
Capt. Ingraham and 17 volunteers had arrived to join our Co.,
the New Bedford City Guards. They brought a lot of things from
home, and I must say that I wished I had a few of my things with
me, left because I came away in such a hurry, but I have a chum,
who is a fine fellow and we are together most of the time, and
while he has anything he will share with me, as I have with him
a part of the money which my kind friends in Boston gave me. If
they had not helped me I should have had a tough time of it.
My love to all, and hoping that I have done right, I remain
your son, ready to fight for your and his country.
We left the State House at about 7 o’clock P.M. April 17, for
the steamer S. R. Spaulding, and laid at anchor in Boston Harbor
until 11:30 A.M. on the 18th when we set sail for this port. The
passage was very rough, and most of the troops were sea sick, but
luckily I escaped, and was therefore enabled to aid the others. It
was the toughest time I ever saw. We slept, eat and were sick all
in one place, and I found that for sleeping purposes, the lower
deck was harder than a mattress. We have hard bread and salt
junk to eat most of the time. We arrived at this place at 10:30 A.M.
yesterday, (4S hours from Boston) and went into the fort and met
the other company which came by the way of Fall River, which
arrived about three hours before us. Here we remained until near
night, when we were ordered on board the sloop of war Pawnee,
bound for the Norfolk Navy Yard. Found 200 marines on board. We
expected to have a hot fight, but the enemy were not in the yard.
In proceeding to the yard, we had a narrow escape from death, to
more or less of us, as the Cumberland was preparing to discharge
a broadside of grape shot upon us which would have raked us fore
and aft. They did not understand what name the Capt. gave, and
were about to fire when our Capt. cried out: “For God’s sake don’t
fire, it is the Pawnee!” Then they rose as one man and cheered us,
while the Band gave us some National airs. We were all laying on
the deck and they did not know how many men we had.
Then we returned their cheer, and were soon afterwards
ordered on shore and busily employed in rolling cannon balls
and shell into the dock, and in spiking the guns. We scuttled and
sunk the Merrimack, blew up the Pennsylvania and the dry dock,
and set fire to the ship house with a ship in it, demolished the
barracks, and completely destroyed the yard. We then went out
of the harbor, taking the Cumberland in tow. Some of the explosions occurred after we had got out of the reach of the secessionists, else they had tried to stop us, as there were about 1000
of them outside of the walls. One of our men had three of his
fingers broken while rolling balls, and one of the Cumberland’s
men was accidentally shot. He was mistaken for a spy in the
harbor. We arrived here again this morning at 7 o’clock, and are
quartered in tents, and sleep on straw, which I prefer to the soft
side of a plank.
We are tired, but in good spirits and are anxious for a brush,
as we are bound to beat. You can form no idea of what kind of
place we are in. It is a beautiful spot; the grass of a vivid green;
the trees all in blossom, and all nature in charming array. I do not
expect we shall stay here much longer, as we expect to be sent
to Pensacola tomorrow. We must go where we are sent or meet
a traitor’s doom; and I had rather get one shot at the Southern
traitors before I die.
Please direct to me, care of Col. Wardrop, 3d Massachusetts
Regiment, Fort Monroe, Old Point Comfort, Virginia, and if we are
not here they will forward to us. We may have to be here three
months. I do not expect to return home before August or later in
the fall.
George H. Freeman
George H. Freeman
10 The Acorn • Fall 2011
Bibliography
“Big Bethel.” CWSAC Battle Summaries. The American Battlefield Protection Program, 2011. Web. 28 June 2011.
Bowen, James Lorenzo. Massachusetts in the War, 18611865. Springfield, MA: C.W. Bryan & Co., 1888. Print.
“Fortress Monroe.” Places in History. Library of Congress,
2011. Web. 28 June 2011.
Headley, Phineas Camp. Massachusetts in the Rebellion;
A Record of the Historical Position of the Commonwealth,
and the Services of the Leading Statesmen, The Military, the
Colleges, and the People in the Civil War of 1861-65. Boston:
Walker, Fuller & Co., 1866. Print.
Lossing, Benson J. Pictorial History of the Civil War in the
United States of America. Hartford: T. Belknap, 1866. Print.
among the dead was Major Theodore Winthrop who
helped devise the plan of attack. Major Winthrop was
killed leading a charge. Even the Confederate officers
noted his bravery. It was under one of the first flags
of truce that his body was retrieved. An event noted
by George in his entry for 17 June was, “Procured the
remains of Maj. Winthrop by flag truce.”
On 1 July, the Regiment was ordered to occupy the
village of Hampton. George wrote “Took a line march to
Hampton arrived about 11:30, 60 men on guard” While
at Hampton, George continued to perform guard duty,
and scouting in temperatures reported at 114 degrees.
On 16 July, the Regiment returned to Fortress Monroe
and embarked onboard the steamer Cambridge headed
for Boston. The Third Regiment arrived at Long Wharf,
Boston at 7 am on the morning of the 19th. The Regiment was then ordered to Long Island in Boston Harbor
and discharged from service to the United States on
22 July. Landing at Commercial Wharf on the 23rd, the
Regiment “marched through Commonwealth, State,
School, Beacon Streets to the Common. Passing Review. Dismissed at 4Pm” Mr. Freeman’s last entry was for
Thursday, 25 July 1861 “Pleasant. Arrived home.”
According to a local newspaper clipping, George Henry
Freeman was the first man from Sandwich to enlist in
the Civil War. George was born in Sandwich on 28 December 1838. He was the son of David and Jane (Newcomb) Freeman. His father David was Town Clerk and
Treasurer of Sandwich for many years.
Following his return from the war, George Freeman
settled in New Bedford. He married Clara Nye of New
Bedford on 2 October 1865. They had one daughter. He
later became a member of the council in New Bedford
in 1875 and 1876 and a representative in 1886 and
1887. At the time of his death in 1908, George Freeman
was permanent clerk in the auditor’s office.
Nasson, George Warren. History and Complete Roster of the
Massachusetts Regiments, Minute Men of ’61, Who Responded to the First Call of President Abraham Lincoln, April
15, 1861, to Defend the Flag and Constitution of the United
States and Biographical Sketches of Minute Men of Massachusetts. Boston: Smith & McCance, 1910.
“Sandwich.” Hyannis Patriot [Hyannis, MA]. 30 Mar. 1908. Print.
Schouler, William. A History of Massachusetts in the Civil War,
Volume 1. Boston: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1868.
“The Blockade of Norfolk Harbor.” The New York Times.
5 May 1861. Print.
“Third Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Militia Infantry.”
Massachusetts Civil War Research Center. Massachusetts Civil
War Research Center, 2011. Web. 28 June 2011.
Urbon, Steve. “At Civil War’s start, New Bedford was whaling center.” South Coastal Today [New Bedford, MA]. 12 Apr.
2011. Print.
Photos pages 8 - 11: George H. Freeman’s Diary Dated 1861
Museum Accession Number: U.382; George Henry Freeman
(1828-1908); Fortress Monroe, Viriginia.
Front Cover: Wide-Awakes were political, marching clubs that
were organized by the newly formed Republican party to support the 1860 ticket of Lincoln & Hamlin. The lantern shown
on the cover was made in the glass factory in Sandwich. It is
comprised of ruby cut to clear glass and was engraved “Lincoln
& Hamblin” on the obverse and “Sandwich Wide-Awakes” on the
reverse. It was used in dramatic, night time parades and was illuminated by a whale oil lamp and carried atop a long pole. The
Wide - Awakes usually carried a banner which depicted an eye
that was always open. The lantern was given to the Sandwich
Historical Society by Carrie Pope, daughter of Charles Pope, who
carried the lantern in the 1860 Sandwich Wide-Awake Procession.
Back Cover: A portrait of Major Charles Chipman who served in
the 29th Regiment, Company D, known as the Sandwich Guards.
He was the highest ranking Sandwich resident killed during the
Civil War. The portrait was part of a collection of paintings called
the, “Gallery of Fallen Soldiers” and it was completed in the 1860’s
by an unknown artist. Major Chipman’s grandson, Frances E.
Jones, donated it to the Sandwich Glass Museum in 1939.
The Acorn • Fall 2011 11
SANDWICH GLASS MUSEUM • SANDWICH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
129 Main Street, Sandwich, MA 02563 • 508.888.0251 • www.sandwichglassmuseum.org
12 The Acorn • Fall 2011