Why didn’t we know this story?
Veterans who survive the tragedy of war and return to civilian life speak seldom to family of the trauma. What could be worse than losing half your regiment in a battle? Perhaps to lose your own boy to the war, in the same battle you are fighting. This is the story of our second great-grandfather, George, and his son, Albert Studley.
George Studley in Maine
In 1845, twenty-one year-old George married Harriet A. Packard, an eighteen year old from Thomaston, several towns south of Lincolnville. By1850, they were living in coastal Rockland with their sons Albert, age four, and George Leslie, age two. George’s brother, Benjamin, was also living in the house. Both George and Benjamin were carpenters, as were four other young men in the house, so this may well have been a boarding house for young men working in Rockland's shipbuilding trade.
By 1860, George and Harriet had moved to Camden, farther along Penobscot Bay. Their household now included Albert, age 14, George Leslie,11, Arrametta, 6, Alice, age 4, and Lisetta, 6 months old. George was working as a farmer.
While George’s life was likely not been easy to this point, it would soon be turned upside down. After firing on Fort Sumter in April, 1861, Lincoln called for 75,000 militia. The conflict proved more costly and longer than anticipated. By July 1862, Lincoln called for another 300,000 volunteers. Maine provided more soldiers for its population than any other state in the Union, and with this last call George, now age thirty-eight, volunteered to join them.
George went to Bath, Maine, where the 19th Maine Infantry mustered into service on August 25, 1862. He entered Company A as a private. Two days later, the regiment left Maine, traveling by rail and boat to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and finally Washington. What a trip this must have been for George who had likely never been away from the coastline of Maine!
Washington at the time had no paved streets, most buildings other than government were wood, and the town was heavily armed and fortified.
An error in not assigning the 19th as a “new regiment” resulted in evacuating the Washington fort in late September, heading on foot to Harper's Ferry, then across Virginia. By late November, the Second Corps was encamped at Falmouth on the bluffs across the Rappahannock from Fredericksburg. To move supplies by wagon, the 19th Regiment was put to work building “corduroy roads”, a process involved cutting down trees for logs. John Day Smith recalls the Mainers' amusement at watching New Yorkers struggle to fell trees:
“... the men from Maine knew how to handle an axe. It was rich entertainment to watch the New Yorkers in our brigade trying to cut down a tree. They would hack a circle about six inches wide around the tree and keep at it, hitting as near the center of the circle as they could, until the tree yielded. It was still more entertaining to see some green, officious Lieutenant of our Regiment, from the city, instructing some lumberman soldier as to the proper way to do this work”.
As a result of delays building pontoons to cross the Rappahannock, the Union Army failed to start across until General Robert E. Lee’s men had a chance to occupy the heights above Fredericksburg.
Veterans who survive the tragedy of war and return to civilian life speak seldom to family of the trauma. What could be worse than losing half your regiment in a battle? Perhaps to lose your own boy to the war, in the same battle you are fighting. This is the story of our second great-grandfather, George, and his son, Albert Studley.
George Studley in Maine
George Studley was born Lincolnville, Maine, in 1824, the sixth of seven children of John Studley (1790-1826) and Pearn Lang (1797-1882).
John had also been born and raised in Lincolnville, a growing rural-coastal frontier town on the western side of Penobscot Bay. In his day, inhabitants made a living by subsistence farming, lumbering, or fishing. John served during the War of 1812 defending against British invasion of Maine. He married Pearn in 1813, when he was twenty-three and she was sixteen.
John died in 1826, when George was about two, only thirty six years old. Pearn, thirty years old, was left a widow with seven children under the age of thirteen. When George was about seven, she married Robert Dodge, a farmer, and three more children joined the household.
In 1845, twenty-one year-old George married Harriet A. Packard, an eighteen year old from Thomaston, several towns south of Lincolnville. By1850, they were living in coastal Rockland with their sons Albert, age four, and George Leslie, age two. George’s brother, Benjamin, was also living in the house. Both George and Benjamin were carpenters, as were four other young men in the house, so this may well have been a boarding house for young men working in Rockland's shipbuilding trade.
By 1860, George and Harriet had moved to Camden, farther along Penobscot Bay. Their household now included Albert, age 14, George Leslie,11, Arrametta, 6, Alice, age 4, and Lisetta, 6 months old. George was working as a farmer.
While George’s life was likely not been easy to this point, it would soon be turned upside down. After firing on Fort Sumter in April, 1861, Lincoln called for 75,000 militia. The conflict proved more costly and longer than anticipated. By July 1862, Lincoln called for another 300,000 volunteers. Maine provided more soldiers for its population than any other state in the Union, and with this last call George, now age thirty-eight, volunteered to join them.
Harriet was left to care for the teenagers, Albert and George, three daughters under ten, and she was pregnant with Sidney, our great-grandfather. How did Harriet make do for the three years George was gone? Did she stay on the farm with help from the two boys? Did the grandparents help out?
From Bath to Washington
George went to Bath, Maine, where the 19th Maine Infantry mustered into service on August 25, 1862. He entered Company A as a private. Two days later, the regiment left Maine, traveling by rail and boat to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and finally Washington. What a trip this must have been for George who had likely never been away from the coastline of Maine!
Washington at the time had no paved streets, most buildings other than government were wood, and the town was heavily armed and fortified.
While the Maine men were approaching Washington, the Second Battle of Manassas was being fought in nearby Virginia. According to John Day Smith, author of The History of the Nineteenth Regiment of Maine Volunteer Infantry, the recruits could hear the battle in the distance.
Another second great-grandfather, Abraham Dillow, and his two brothers, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington Dillow, were fighting at Second Manassas while George and 916 men of the 19th Maine were making their way to their camp in Washington. The regiment was assigned to forts around the city. Company A went to Fort Greble south of the city, now Congress Heights.
Fredericksburg
Fredericksburg
An error in not assigning the 19th as a “new regiment” resulted in evacuating the Washington fort in late September, heading on foot to Harper's Ferry, then across Virginia. By late November, the Second Corps was encamped at Falmouth on the bluffs across the Rappahannock from Fredericksburg. To move supplies by wagon, the 19th Regiment was put to work building “corduroy roads”, a process involved cutting down trees for logs. John Day Smith recalls the Mainers' amusement at watching New Yorkers struggle to fell trees:
“... the men from Maine knew how to handle an axe. It was rich entertainment to watch the New Yorkers in our brigade trying to cut down a tree. They would hack a circle about six inches wide around the tree and keep at it, hitting as near the center of the circle as they could, until the tree yielded. It was still more entertaining to see some green, officious Lieutenant of our Regiment, from the city, instructing some lumberman soldier as to the proper way to do this work”.
As a result of delays building pontoons to cross the Rappahannock, the Union Army failed to start across until General Robert E. Lee’s men had a chance to occupy the heights above Fredericksburg.
On December 11, 1862, Union soldiers crossed the Rappahannock under fire and fought Confederate defenders block by block through the town, first major urban combat in American History. George’s brigade had the high risk task to be second to cross the pontoon to take the town of Fredericksburg. “It has been affirmed that this pontoon bridge crossed by our Regiment was laid in as hazardous a place as any position used for such crossing during the war”, reflected an officer of the 19th.
After fighting their way through town, the 19th Maine was assigned to the extreme right flank the next two days while the slaughter of the Union Army attempting to take Marye’s Heights was toward the center and left flank. The battle was a devastating Union defeat. The 19th escaped casualties, but the Union Army had approximately 12,600 casualties. George survived his first major battle, but the regiment's hardest months lay ahead.
After fighting their way through town, the 19th Maine was assigned to the extreme right flank the next two days while the slaughter of the Union Army attempting to take Marye’s Heights was toward the center and left flank. The battle was a devastating Union defeat. The 19th escaped casualties, but the Union Army had approximately 12,600 casualties. George survived his first major battle, but the regiment's hardest months lay ahead.
Winter at Falmouth
The Regiment retreated back across the river and wintered in miserable winter conditions. According to Smith,
“... our Falmouth camp was our Valley Forge of the civil war...during the winter, the Regiment lost about one hundred men by sickness (10 of these from Company A), and the burial of the comrades was a pathetic sight. The expiring comrade “wrapt the drapery of his couch about him, and that drape was the army blanket. In this he was buried, and his only headstone was a piece of a hard bread box. The signal of the burial was given by the muffled drum, the power pathos of which went through all the camp.”
“... our Falmouth camp was our Valley Forge of the civil war...during the winter, the Regiment lost about one hundred men by sickness (10 of these from Company A), and the burial of the comrades was a pathetic sight. The expiring comrade “wrapt the drapery of his couch about him, and that drape was the army blanket. In this he was buried, and his only headstone was a piece of a hard bread box. The signal of the burial was given by the muffled drum, the power pathos of which went through all the camp.”
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| Vintage drawing of Falmouth camp, winter 1862-1863 |
John Day Smith was a member of the 19th Maine, named "Frying Pan Regiment." The name came from an incident at winter camp in which the men tried to cook bacon in a frying pan supported over the fire with live artillery rounds. One can imagine how that went.
The Chancellorsville campaign, another Union defeat, began in late April 1863. On May 3, while Lee was diverted to Chancellorsville, Union troops crossed the Rappahannock in the second battle of Fredericksburg, and captured the Confederate position at Marye’s Heights that had proved so deadly the previous December; the 19th Maine suffered no casualties.
By late May, the Second Corps had a new commander, General Winfield Scott Hancock. In mid-June, the 19th finally left behind its Falmouth Camp and marched north ... heading for Gettysburg.
Principal source: John Day Smith, The History of the Nineteenth Regiment of Maine Volunteer Infantry, 1862-1865, 1909.
Principal source: John Day Smith, The History of the Nineteenth Regiment of Maine Volunteer Infantry, 1862-1865, 1909.
2 comments:
Great story - can't wait for more!
Daddy would be enjoying this. Can't wait for Gettysburg.
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