Stephen Minot Weld, Jr. to Stephen Minot Weld, Sr, Annapolis, Maryland, March 25, 1864

    Source citation
    Stephen Minot Weld, War Diary and Letters of Stephen Minot Weld, 1861-1865 (Cambridge, MA; Riverside Press, 1912), 260-263.
    Recipient (to)
    Weld, Stephen Minot, Sr.
    Type
    Letter
    Date Certainty
    Exact
    Transcriber
    John Osborne, Dickinson College
    Transcription date
    The following text is presented here in complete form, as it originally appeared in print. Spelling and typographical errors have been preserved as in the original.
    Headquarters 56TH Massachusetts Reg't. 
    Camp Holmes, near Annapolis, March 25, 1864. 
     
    Dear Father, — We are now comfortably settled in 
    tents about two miles from Annapolis, on the exact ground 
    that the 24th Massachusetts were encamped two years 
    ago. The ground is dry and easily drained, with water, 
    etc., within convenient distance. The railroad runs within 
    a fourth of a mile of our camp, making it very convenient 
    for us to get our supplies. 
     
    We left camp, as you know, on Sunday morning, the 
    men and officers being in the best of spirits, and with but 
    few of the men, I am glad to say, drunk. The day before 
    we left, over forty gallons of liquor were confiscated at 
    General Peirce's headquarters, being found on the persons 
    of the soldiers' friends, or rather enemies. We reached 
    Groton at 3 p.m. without losing a man. At every place we 
    stopped, the officers and guards got out, and prevented 
    any civilians from having access to the men. In this way 
    we managed to keep all liquor away from the soldiers. At 
    Groton we shipped the regiment on board the Plymouth 
    Rock and reached Jersey City by 2.30 a.m., experiencing 
    no trouble except from the boat-hands selling rum to the 
    men. At Jersey City we had to wait until 10.30 A.M. be- 
    fore we could get the regiment on board the cars and 
    started. We lost but two men here. We reached Camden 
    at about 7 p.m. with all our men except one. At Newark a 
    citizen was shot by one of the officers for refusing to go 
    away from the cars, where he was selling liquor, and for 
    throwing stones at the officer. I don't know whether the 
    man was mortally wounded or not. At Camden we took 
    the ferry and crossed to Philadelphia, where we received 
    a supper from the Union Association. I demolished a 
    liquor shop in Philadelphia and took the proprietor pris- 
    oner. I had him hand-cuffed and taken on to Baltimore, 
    where I had half his head and beard shaved and then 
    turned him over to the provost marshal. At Philadelphia 
    the colonel and quartermaster left us, and went on to 
    Baltimore to provide transportation for the regiment, and 
    therefore I had command. After taking our supper here, 
    we marched to Philadelphia and Baltimore depot, where 
    we took freight cars for Baltimore. We arrived there at 
    12 and found the colonel waiting for us. As a dinner was 
    promised us here at the Union Rooms, we marched some 
    two miles from the depot to the place, where we found 
    that we had been taken in, for no dinner was ready, so like 
    the king of old we marched down the hill again. We took 
    the steamer Columbia at Baltimore about 2 p.m. and 
    started for Annapolis, reaching there at 6.30 p.m. in a 
    driving snow-storm. We disembarked as soon as possible, 
    and marched to what are called the College Green Bar- 
    racks, where the paroled prisoners are kept for the first 
    day or two after their arrival. We found only four of the 
    barracks empty, and had to pack our men in them, put- 
    ting four hundred where two [hundred] are usually put. 
    Still it was much better this way than without any shelter 
    at all, for the night was bitter cold and the wind keen 
    and sharp. In the morning we made arrangements with 
    Major Chamberlain to provide our men with hot coffee 
    and meat, until we could draw our rations. Major Cham- 
    berlain is in the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry and in charge 
    of the parole camp. He was very kind and obliging to us, 
    for without his aid we could have done nothing for our 
    men, and should have been obliged to have seen them 
    suffer a great deal. As it was, they had a pretty hard time 
    of it. This same morning, that is, Wednesday, lots of our 
    men got into the town, and drank much bad whiskey, be- 
    sides bringing a lot more into camp. About noon camp 
    began to be a perfect pandemonium, and as the colonel 
    was away, the major and I sallied out to restore order. 
    We put all the noisy drunkards in the guard-house, and 
    soon quelled the disturbance outside. In the guard- 
    house, however, confusion reigned supreme for a long 
    time. We tied up any number of men, and finally suc- 
    ceeded in getting quiet restored. One of the worst cases 
    in the regiment, named Casey, I had tied up by the 
    thumbs, and gagged. He then kicked an officer there, and 
    I said to him, " Casey, I will shoot you if you do that 
    again." Another officer came by and he kicked him, and 
    I drew that pistol Uncle Oliver gave me and fired at him 
    twice. The first shot went through his arm, in the biceps, 
    without touching the bone. The second hit the bayonet 
    in his mouth by which he was gagged, and dropped into 
    his stocking. The bayonet saved his life, for the shot 
    would have gone through his head otherwise. I meant to 
    kill him, and was very sorry I did not succeed. The shots 
    had a wonderful effect in quieting the men, and I had very 
    little trouble with them after that. 
     
    Yesterday morning we started for our camp outside 
    the city and delighted (?) the Secesh citizens by playing 
    "John Brown" as we marched through the town. We 
    pitched all the tents before night and had the regiment 
    comfortably housed and fed. Considering that some regi- 
    ments that arrived over a week ago only managed to do 
    the same thing in a week, I think we have every reason 
    to be satisfied. . . . 
    How to Cite This Page: "Stephen Minot Weld, Jr. to Stephen Minot Weld, Sr, Annapolis, Maryland, March 25, 1864," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/41803.