WEBSTER'S PART IN THE CIVIL WAR
FIFTY YEARS AGO
From the Fifteenth
Some of the members of the Fifteenth regiment are making merry over the Balls Bluff affair and their treatment by officers. One of the Oxford boys, in a letter which we have seen, says, “Now I think of it, if you see any person who is intending to enlist tell them if they are going into Gen. Stone’s division they had better learn to swim.” he says further “you would laugh to hear the remarks which some of the Oxford boys made. Burrill says that what the rebels can't kill Gen. Stone has handed over to the quartermaster to starve to death,” We are glad to know that what the boys find disagreeable, they submit to this philosophically.
A number of the bodies of our soldiers engaged at Ball’s Bluff have been recovered from the Potomac. That of Lieut. Grout of the Mass 15th Regiment had been sent home. Most of the bodies recovered were almost unrecognizable, and were buried on the banks of the river.
First Lieut. Leonard Woods of Co. a 15th Mass regiment was commissioned as Captain of Co. K of the same regiment, in place of Capt. M. W. Gatchell, who was killed at Ball’s Bluff.
Prisoners of Company I
We have received the following brief letter from the Webster Company in the Fifteenth. He was in the Ball’s Bluff fight and until now was supposed to have been drowned in attempting to cross the Potomac.
Richmond, Va. Oct. 27, 1861
Mr. Spaulding Sir, I take this opportunity of writing a few lines to inform you that I am a prisoner here, with 27 others of my company. We are all well and fare first rate. We are quartered in a large tobacco factory building. The following is a list of the prisoners belonging to Co. I.
Sergeant B. F. Taft of Worcester,
Sergeant G. W. Lewis of Webster,
Sergeant W. W. Bosworth of Webster,
Corporal Riley Thayer of Webster,
Corporal Henry Rusack of Webster,
Corporal E. L. Parmenter of Webster,
Corporal John Maley of Webster,
Private Wm. H. Palmer of Webster,
Private James Stevens of Webster,
Private Henry Butler of Webster,
Private Henry Clapp of Webster,
Private Joseph Sandback of Webster,
Private John Hollin of Webster,
Private Henry Groh of Webster,
Private H. J. Raymond of Webster,
Private V. L. Negus of Webster,
Private Rufus Corbin of Webster,
Private L. H. Cummings of Webster,
Private W. l. Converse of Webster,
Private Patrick Healy of Webster,
Private A. J. Laverty of Millbury,
Private Thomas O’Connor of Millbury,
Private George Hadfield of Millbury,
Private Thomas Cassidy of Roxbury,
Private Hiram Ward of Douglas,
Private John Kelly of Worcester,
Private George Walker of Springfield,
Give my respects to inquiring friends and accept the same yourself.
From Your Friend
John Maley
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