Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1574
Last evening I met a recipient of the daily email who had a family member who enlisted in the Civil War in Dorchester although he lived in Plymouth County. His name was Peter Friary, but he enlisted as William Daley (if I remember the details correctly) because his father was very much against his enlistment. Recently I heard another tale about the Civil War – that it was possible for a man to hire another man to go to war in his place, and the first man would be treated as if he had fully fulfilled his obligation.
The Civil War keeps popping up because this is the 150th anniversary year of the beginning of the war. The subject of the Civil War is the reason for today’s illustration—a scan of the cover of the third book of William T. Adams’ series on the Civil War, which was written while the war was ongoing (this edition is from the 20th century because the ones published in the 1860s did not include any illustrations).
The author William T. Adams who lived at Fields Corner wrote three series of books about the Civil War, one during the war and the other two in the 1890s. He wrote these, like many of his books, under the pseudonym Oliver Optic. Adams’ literary success came from writing material for children and young adults, especially stories for young men filled with daring rescues and foiled plots—stories that praised the values of duty, loyalty and fairness. Of the six volumes in the first series, three relate the story of Tom Somers in the Union army, and three relate the story of his twin brother Jack in the Union navy.
Although these are works of fiction, the reader may wonder if the fictional town of Pinchbrook, home to the Somers twins, bears any resemblance to the real town of Dorchester, where Adams lived. We are fortunate to have a short historical account of the actions of a company of volunteers raised exclusively from Dorchester in William Dana Orcutt’s Good Old Dorchester (1893) to compare with the fictional account provided in the first book of Adams’ first Civil War series: Soldier Boy (1863). The similarities between fact and fiction may be because every coastal town had essentially the same story, but it may be that Adams used the real events among Dorchester men to create his fiction. Or perhaps, Orcutt cadged some of his historical details from the novelist.
After the news of the surrender of Fort Sumter, the real people of Dorchester raised a company of volunteers entirely from among the town’s inhabitants as did the people of the fictional town of Pinchbrook.
Tom Somers lived in Pinchbrook, and he joined up for the Union cause.
Orcutt: “Nearly every Massachusetts regiment contained men who claimed Dorchester as their home; but one company was organized with the town limits in which the inhabitants took a special interest. … The company was organized under State law, the men choosing their own officers. They had a surgical inspection by Dr. Benjamin Cushing, and were drilled in Lyceum Hall, Meeting-House Hill, May 27, 1861.”
Optic: “In the course of the week Captain Benson had procured the necessary authority to raise a company for three years or for the war. When he exhibited his papers, he found twenty persons ready to put down their names. A recruiting office was opened at the store, and every day added to the list of brave and self-denying men who were ready to go forward and fight the battles of liberty and union. … We have not the agricultural and commercial statistics of the place at hand; but the larger territorial part of the town was devoted to the farming interest, and was rather sparsely populated, while the principal village, called Pinchbrook Harbor, was more densely peopled, contained two stores, four churches, one wharf, a blacksmith shop …”
Orcutt: “… they were drilled in Lyceum Hall …” “[they were] members of the … Eleventh Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers …”
Optic: “As the volunteers of the Pinchbrook company could ill afford to lose the time devoted to drill before they should be mustered into the service of the Unites States, the town voted to pay each man fifteen dollars a month for three months … For the next five weeks, Tom was employed forenoon, afternoon, and evening, in the drill, and he soon made himself proficient.
Orcutt: “They had a surgical inspection by Dr. Benjamin Cushing, and were drilled in Lyceum Hall, Meeting-house Hill, May 27, 1861. The Reverend Nathaniel Hall, Jr., made a prayer; and the company, escorted by large number of their townsmen, marched to Long wharf to take the boat for Fort Warren.”
Optic: “On the 27th day of May, the company, escorted by the patriotic citizens of Pinchbrook, marched to Boston, and Tom took a sorrowful farewell of his mother, his brother and sisters, and a score of anxious friends … The band, which was at the head of the citizens’ column, struck up an inspiring march, and Tom dried his tears. The escort moved off, followed by the company … The procession halted upon the wharf, where the company was to embark on a steamer for Fort Warren … The steamer having arrived, the soldiers shook hands with their friends again, went on board, and amid the hearty cheers of the citizens of Pinchbrook, were borne down the bay.”
Orcutt: “Dr. Benjamin Cushing has in his possession an autograph list of the members of this Company K, Eleventh Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers …”
Optic: “The Pinchbrook boys were designated as Company K at Fort Warren (Boston) Captain Benson’s company … A large portion of the forenoon was devoted to squad and company drill, and of the afternoon to battalion drill.”
Orcutt: “After spending a few weeks at the fort, they went into camp at Cambridge …”
Optic: “On the 17th of June, the regiment left Fort Warren, and after being conveyed by steamer to Boston, marched to Camp Cameron [North Cambridge] … The men were not only carefully and persistently drilled, but they were educated, as far as the circumstances would permit, for the arduous duties of a campaign.”
Orcutt: “… thence they went to the seat of war, to take part in the battle of Bull Run”
Optic: “It was the morning of the eventful twenty-first of July … going down to Manassas Junction [Bull Run]”
Orcutt: “The company went through the Peninsular Campaign under McLellan, and consequently were at Yorktown, Williamsburg … [May, 1862]”
Optic: “Tom learned that the regiment was before Yorktown, which had been strongly fortified by the rebels to resist the advance of the Union Army. … The rebel works before Williamsburg were in sight … The roar of the guns in Fort Magruder interrupted the conversation …”
Here the comparison must end, because Soldier Boy concludes when Tom is wounded and sent home on furlough. Both the real and the fictional companies K continued on in other battles. There seems to be a number of similarities between the history and fiction
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