- Joined
- Aug 27, 2011
- Location
- Central Massachusetts
In 1886, former first-sergeant Samuel H. Putnam published The Story of Company A, 25th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. Rather than a formal history, it was written "for the boys" -- a nostalgic reminiscence of what they had all experienced during the war years, naming many names, and telling stories about just about every man in Company A. It's the kind of memoir a descendant of any of those men would treasure.
The 25th had begun its service in North Carolina, as part of the Burnside expedition, seeing its first combat at Roanoke. Later they moved to Virginia, for the Bermuda Hundred campaign, lost heavily at Drewery's Bluff, and heavier still (65% casualties) in the charnel house of Cold Harbor. Then, reduced to a battalion of 3 companies, returned to Newbern to end the war quietly in garrison.
Starting on p. 214, Putnam speaks of the stories and songs that lifted their hearts:
The 25th had begun its service in North Carolina, as part of the Burnside expedition, seeing its first combat at Roanoke. Later they moved to Virginia, for the Bermuda Hundred campaign, lost heavily at Drewery's Bluff, and heavier still (65% casualties) in the charnel house of Cold Harbor. Then, reduced to a battalion of 3 companies, returned to Newbern to end the war quietly in garrison.
Starting on p. 214, Putnam speaks of the stories and songs that lifted their hearts: