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It is sometimes depressing that those ordinary soldiers about whom we are able to learn the most, are generally those who have suffered the most grievously during the war. Such a one is Charles E. Barnard, a native of Auburn, Mass., whose suffering, and heroism extended to long after the bullets stopped flying.
Charles E. Barnard was 18 years old in July 1861, when he enlisted in Company E, 15th Massachusetts Volunteers. He first saw combat late in October, at the Battle of Ball's Bluff. After swimming across the Potomac to safety, he is one of those credited with going back across, under heavy fire from the Confederates atop the bluff, to help rescue his non-swimming comrades from certain death or capture. He was with his regiment throughout the Peninsula Campaign. On 17 September he received a severe chest wound, and was discharged as disabled, 24 November 1862.
But, a year later, he had so recovered that he determined to enlist once again. This time as a Sergeant in Company F, of the 57th Massachusetts Regiment of Veteran Volunteers. He missed much of the regiment's heavy fighting during the spring and summer of 1864, being assigned to a detail guarding the IX Corps cattle herd. It was not entirely uneventful duty, however. On Sept. 16th, for instance, he was on duty guarding the cattle near City Point, Va., when a superior force of Confederate cavalry under Wade Hampton made a surprise raid, and drove off some 2500 head, capturing 400 prisoners. None of the IX Corps cattle or the men under his command were lost.
By now promoted 1st Sergeant, he was soon back with his regiment for the Siege of Petersburg. As the 57th had taken heavy losses, by March, 1st Sgt. Barnard was in effective command of Co. F, there being no officers present. Assigned in support of Fort Stedman at he time of Lee's final offensive on 25 March, 1865, Barnard received severe wounds in the left shoulder and neck.
After 3 months in hospital, Sgt. Barnard was Commissioned 2nd Lieutenant (one source said he had refused a Commission the year before), and was discharged on 9 August 1865.
The regimental history of the 57th, tells the rest of Charles E. Barnard's tragic, but still heroic story:
"The fragment of the ball which had lodged in his body caused him much pain, and sores to form. It finally appeared to lodge in the right hip, which caused the cords of the right leg to retract so much that the right knee was drawn up so as to rest against the abdomen and breast; it being so much drawn up that he could rest his chin on the knee.
"The wounds in the back and shoulder caused paralysis of the left arm, also a disease of the spine. During all the years that he survived the war he was a patient sufferer and was never heard to murmur or complain. Although a cripple, and unable to perform manual labor of any kind, he was of a cheerful disposition and possessed, to an eminent degree, the cardinal virtue of charity. Many acts of kindness, which he supposed none knew, were subsequently traced to him, often depriving himself so that he might be able to lighten the burden of some unfortunate comrade, to whom his heart always turned with feelings of sympathy. Such a life sheds a luster that does not vanish with death, but leaves a fragrant incense which death cannot kill." [Anderson, The Fifty-Seventh Regiment of Mass. Vols., Boston, 1896]
jno
Charles E. Barnard was 18 years old in July 1861, when he enlisted in Company E, 15th Massachusetts Volunteers. He first saw combat late in October, at the Battle of Ball's Bluff. After swimming across the Potomac to safety, he is one of those credited with going back across, under heavy fire from the Confederates atop the bluff, to help rescue his non-swimming comrades from certain death or capture. He was with his regiment throughout the Peninsula Campaign. On 17 September he received a severe chest wound, and was discharged as disabled, 24 November 1862.
But, a year later, he had so recovered that he determined to enlist once again. This time as a Sergeant in Company F, of the 57th Massachusetts Regiment of Veteran Volunteers. He missed much of the regiment's heavy fighting during the spring and summer of 1864, being assigned to a detail guarding the IX Corps cattle herd. It was not entirely uneventful duty, however. On Sept. 16th, for instance, he was on duty guarding the cattle near City Point, Va., when a superior force of Confederate cavalry under Wade Hampton made a surprise raid, and drove off some 2500 head, capturing 400 prisoners. None of the IX Corps cattle or the men under his command were lost.
By now promoted 1st Sergeant, he was soon back with his regiment for the Siege of Petersburg. As the 57th had taken heavy losses, by March, 1st Sgt. Barnard was in effective command of Co. F, there being no officers present. Assigned in support of Fort Stedman at he time of Lee's final offensive on 25 March, 1865, Barnard received severe wounds in the left shoulder and neck.
After 3 months in hospital, Sgt. Barnard was Commissioned 2nd Lieutenant (one source said he had refused a Commission the year before), and was discharged on 9 August 1865.
The regimental history of the 57th, tells the rest of Charles E. Barnard's tragic, but still heroic story:
"The fragment of the ball which had lodged in his body caused him much pain, and sores to form. It finally appeared to lodge in the right hip, which caused the cords of the right leg to retract so much that the right knee was drawn up so as to rest against the abdomen and breast; it being so much drawn up that he could rest his chin on the knee.
"The wounds in the back and shoulder caused paralysis of the left arm, also a disease of the spine. During all the years that he survived the war he was a patient sufferer and was never heard to murmur or complain. Although a cripple, and unable to perform manual labor of any kind, he was of a cheerful disposition and possessed, to an eminent degree, the cardinal virtue of charity. Many acts of kindness, which he supposed none knew, were subsequently traced to him, often depriving himself so that he might be able to lighten the burden of some unfortunate comrade, to whom his heart always turned with feelings of sympathy. Such a life sheds a luster that does not vanish with death, but leaves a fragrant incense which death cannot kill." [Anderson, The Fifty-Seventh Regiment of Mass. Vols., Boston, 1896]
jno
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