War news that was confusing, inaccurate and eventually disastrous was daily fare for readers of The Republican in the first week of July 1862.
As the region made plans for a massive show of patriotism on the Fourth of July reports of “a great battle at Richmond” dominated the headlines. In fact, there wasn’t a single great battle, but a series of six individual battles in a week that would become known as the Seven Days Battles. They would end on July 1, at Malvern Hill and once again the 10th Massachusetts would fight valiantly. But it was several days before the fate of the local boys would be learned.
The month began with speculation that Gen. McClellan’s troops in Virginia would soon capture the Confederate capital of Richmond and that Vicksburg “is likely soon to be added to the list of conquered cities in the southwest.” That actually would happen on the Fourth of July, but it would be a year later in 1863. Richmond’s capture was much further away – April 1865. The union troops had been pushed by rebel Gen. Robert E. Lee clear to the end of the peninsula at a cost of a combined 36,000 casualties to both armies.
When Charles C. Fulton, the editor of the Baltimore American and agent for the Associated Press, was arrested under orders of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton for alleged breach of censorship, The Republican editorialized about “struggling with only imperfect accounts.” A news blackout lasted nearly a week.
The advertising, which took up the entire front page of The Republican, also mirrored the pervasiveness of the war. There were numerous ads for lawyers claiming they could get pension, bounty, back pay and death benefits from the government for nominal fees. One ad, under “chances for business” touted a work-at-home kit that would supply everything needed to manufacture and sell up to 50 Wilcox’ Patent Artificial Legs. Along with these pitches in the July 1, 1862, paper was a recruiting ad noting that “this will probably be your last chance to enlist in a new regiment.”
A letter to the newspaper from Col. Horace C. Lee, commander of the Massachusetts 27th and former Springfield city clerk, added a dose of reality when he wrote:
“I notice in your paper an advertisement for recruits for the 27th offering as an inducement the regiment is to have ‘no long and tiresome marches or exposure in damp cold tents.’ ... I want no soldiers enlisted under my command who come expecting to live in comfortable barracks.”
Lee went on to spell out the trials and tribulations in great detail of fighting a war.
The very next day, July 2, The Republican reported President Lincoln, who was pretty familiar with the situation at the front, issued a call for 300,000 new troops. Every city and town in Massachusetts would be given a quota. Added to the fireworks and parades of the Glorious Fourth was a push for patriots to answer the call to duty. There would now be plenty of chances to join.
What had been planned as a traditional celebration of the nation’s birthday turned into a giant “patriotic meeting” to respond to the president’s call for troops. At sunrise, noon and sunset 34 guns were fired in salute of the Fourth. The festivities lasted 16 hours.
Around 9 a.m. the city fire company’s first new steam engine “Monitor,” acquired that week for the sum of $2,800 (about $63,000 in today’s dollars), put on an impressive show at the Union Block on Man Street. At 10 a.m. a group of 1,000 workers from the Springfield Armory marched to City Hall to join the scores of people already there to discuss efforts to enlist new soldiers.
Lincoln’s close friend George Ashmun called the crowd to order and was followed by patriotic speeches given by Mayor Stephen Bemis, Gen. Charles Devens, Dr. C.C. Chaffee, and Judge Reuben Atwater Chapman, who had been martyred abolitionist John Brown’s lawyer.
Devens was introduced as a participant in the fierce battles of Ball’s Bluff and Fair Oaks. The audience rose and welcomed him with three cheers. The general, who had been recently wounded at Fair Oaks, praised the 10th Massachusetts for the bravery of its troops whose actions at the battle “will live among the proudest feats of military daring.”
Several of the speakers, Devens included, warned against any foreign intervention in the war by either France or England.
After the speeches much of the crowd headed for Hampden Park to take in the trotting races during the afternoon and then headed for Federal Square at the Armory for more speeches, patriotic music and fireworks. Extra trains brought in participants from outlying towns and ran special late hours to bring them home.
The Republican put out an “EXTRA” edition on July 5, carrying more details of the battles, especially the Malvern Hill engagement. The rebels suffered horrendous losses as they assaulted the entrenched Union troops and were mowed down by artillery. Release of these details might be explained in the short item that stated:
“The editors of the country have been notified that the late restrictions on the publication of war news are removed and everything relating to the war may be published, except what pertains to movement of troops or other matters that would give information to the enemy. This is sensible – at last.”
It wasn’t until the July 9th edition of The Republican came out that the people of Western Massachusetts discovered what had happened to their friends and loved ones of the 10th Regiment on July 1. There were eight listed as killed, 58 wounded and seven missing. Lt. H.A. Keith, acting adjutant, added the following information to the list:
“We cleaned out, in the early part of the action, three regiments of the rebels, totally annihilating them. They made three attempts to rally, but failed in each. We next routed a brigade at long range, say 600 yards, cutting them to pieces with our rifles. Our fire throughout was terribly effective, and Gen. Palmer now calls us “his sharpshooters.”
Under the heading “The Union Must be Preserved” Gov. John A. Andrew issued a specific call to every town for its quota. It appeared in the July 9 newspaper. Of the 786 men sought in Hampden County, Springfield was responsible for 287, Chicopee, 81, Westfield, 75, and Holyoke, 53. Hampshire County had to provide 472, Franklin, 397 and Berkshire, 607.
“Unless volunteering becomes more brisk, drafting must soon be reverted to,” The Republican editorialized, pointing out the rebels were already engaged in “the cruelest conscription” to uphold their bad cause. This was followed up by a story detailing the “great war meeting at City Hall” in which Springfield leaders mapped out a plan to fill the enlistment quota by offering a $75 bounty for enlistees. In a subsequent meeting the city’s richest resident, Chester W. Chapin, increased that figure to $100 by pledging his own funds.
Soon the newspaper advertising pages were packed with various recruiting ads and camps were established in Worcester and Pittsfield to handle the new enlistees. Hugh Donnelly, of Springfield, who had already fought at Bull Run and Williamsburg, was authorized by the governor to raise a company of volunteers “among our Irish citizens.”
In the wake of the Seven Days Battles President Lincoln was busy meeting with Gen. Mclellan, naming Gen. John Pope to take command of the Army of Virginia and Gen. Henry Halleck as general-in-chief, both were from the successful West theater. The president sent to Congress his emancipation bill which called for compensation to states willing to abolish slavery.
Back on the homefront the citizens of Western Massachusetts joined the rest of the country in trying to cope with the virtual disappearance of silver change. This was due to a combination of hoarding, because few trusted the new paper money, a run by speculators to buy silver coins and sell them at a premium in Europe, and the need for metal in the war effort.
The Republican railed against the practice of local banks and private businesses issuing what were called “shinplasters” which were unregulated small pieces of paper currency. Locally merchants used postage stamps, rolls of pennies, omnibus tokens, and one Springfield grocer made up packets of sugar valued at 10 cents that were used as change.
By the end of the month, Congress had passed legislation making postage stamps legal tender and had outlawed use of shinplasters.
One of the last acts of Congress before going in to summer recess was to confirm Col. Henry S. Briggs to the post of brigadier general. The commander of the 10th regiment was recuperating in Pittsfield after being shot through both thighs at Fair Oaks. He was commended for gallantry following the battle.
According to The Republican, another “wounded” veteran rescued from the Fair Oaks battlefield was on display at Rider’s store across from Court Square. It was an opossum, common in the south but rare, back in the 1860’s, in the north. “It is recovering rapidly and is a decidedly comical little varmint,” The Republican reported.
New enlistees were leaving the city on an almost daily basis to report for duty in Worcester, but many were being rejected by what the newspaper called “ridiculous reasons.” Of 18 men enlisted at Huntington, six were sent back. One of these men was rejected because he had a scar on his little toe caused by a boyhood accident.
“Does anybody believe that a scar on this volunteers little toe would damage his fighting capabilities in the slightest degree?” The Republican opined.
Such stories by the paper caught the attention of Gov. Andrew who stopped the practice and had most of the decisions reversed. It also sped the opening a second camp in Pittsfield.
On the last day of the month Col. Lee wrote a letter to The Republican from Camp in Newbern, N.C., that highlighted how arbitrary war can be. He wrote:
“On the 24th a tent was struck by lightning and J.H. Birge of the Northampton company was instantly killed. The other inmates of the tent were stunned but otherwise uninjured.”