LETTER FROM THE 23D MASS[ACHUSETTS]. REG’T.
Co. C, 23d Mass[achusetts].
BERMUDA HUNDRED, Va., Aug. 26, 1864.
MR EDITOR:—Here we are, back to our old place again, as you will see by the heading of this letter. We [23rd Massachusetts] left the front of Petersburg yesterday morning [August 25, 1864], soon after daylight, and took up our line of march for this place, where we arrived in the afternoon.
After crossing the Appomattox River, while we were halting on our march to the breastworks, who should we see riding along but our much-beloved post-commander, Gen. [Charles A.] Heckman.1 And such a shout as went up, making the welkin ring. Three times three were given with a will, which compliment he acknowledged by removing his hat.
There is some talk of our going to Newbern [North Carolina] again2. Gen. Heckman is to take command of the Department, and would doubtless like to have his old brigade with him. I think it would be gratifying to the whole brigade to be placed under his command again.
Yesterday we were paid off, a very gratifying circumstance I can assure you, as we were getting short of funds.
Yours, GUARD. 3
***
Other Massachusetts’ Soldier Letters in the Cape Ann Light and Gloucester Telegraph
- NP: July 9, 1864 Cape Ann Light and Gloucester Telegraph: 59th MA at Second Petersburg, June 17, 1864
- NP: July 16, 1864 Cape Ann Light and Gloucester Telegraph: 13th MA, Last Days at Petersburg
- NP: July 16, 1864 Cape Ann Light and Gloucester Telegraph: Co. D, 32nd MA at Petersburg, Late June to Early July 1864
- NP: July 23, 1864 Cape Ann Light and Gloucester Telegraph: Co. D, 32nd MA Fourth of July
- NP: July 30, 1864 Cape Ann Light and Gloucester Telegraph: 23rd MA, Mid-July 1864
- NP: July 30, 1864 Cape Ann Light and Gloucester Telegraph: Co. D, 32nd MA, Mid-July 1864
- NP: August 6, 1864 Cape Ann Light and Gloucester Telegraph: 23rd MA And Shelling Along The Lines
- NP: August 13, 1864 Cape Ann Light and Gloucester Telegraph: 23rd MA and Confederate Countermines
- NP: August 13, 1864 Cape Ann Light and Gloucester Telegraph: 23rd MA Observes the Crater Battle
- NP: August 13, 1864 Cape Ann Light and Gloucester Telegraph: 32nd MA Observes the Crater Battle
- NP: August 13, 1864 Cape Ann Light and Gloucester Telegraph: 32nd MA, the Crater, and a Feud
- NP: August 20, 1864 Cape Ann Light and Gloucester Telegraph: 23rd MA and the City Point Explosion
- NP: August 27, 1864 Cape Ann Light and Gloucester Telegraph: 23rd MA Feuds with the 32nd MA
- NP: August 27, 1864 Cape Ann Light and Gloucester Telegraph: Co. D, 32nd MA Shelling and Explosions at Petersburg
- NP: September 3, 1864 Cape Ann Light and Gloucester Telegraph: 32nd MA at the Battle of Globe Tavern, August 18-21, 1864
Source:
- SOPO Editor’s Note: Heckman had been wounded at the Battle of Port Walthall Junction and then captured at the Battle of Drewry’s Bluff in mid-May, 1864. Heckman had been exchanged by this point, and was given command of the 2nd Division, Eighteenth Corps, Army of the James, which he led at the September 29-30, 1864 Battle of Chaffin’s Farm. ↩
- SOPO Editor’s Note: The 23rd Massachusetts had been in the New Berne, North Carolina area multiple times during the Civil War, first with Burnside’s Expedition in 1862 to take the town, and later to defend it against future Confederate attacks. I’m sure the members of the regiment desperately wished to be anywhere but in the trenches of Petersburg, and they would have mostly looked backed fondly on their old service. ↩
- “Letter from the 32d Mass Regt.” Cape Ann Light and Gloucester Telegraph. September 3, 1864, p. 1 col. 5-6 ↩