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CIVIL WAR ARCHIVE OF W. L. SAVAGE, 10TH CONNECTICUT,
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CIVIL WAR ARCHIVE OF W. L. SAVAGE, 10TH CONNECTICUT,
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211 ALsS. September 1861-October 1864 From his days as a raw recruit from Greenwich, Conn., William L. Savage was a model soldier. Mustered in at Hartford as a Sergeant in Co. I, 10th Connecticut Infantry, in September 1861, Savage earned a promotion to Sgt. Major in February 1862, before receiving a commission as 2nd Lieutenant of Co. B in September 1863. A church going boy, tobacco free and alcohol averse, Savage was the ideal soldier, strongly motivated, as he repeatedly advised, to crush the rebellion and destroy traitors, south and north. A Sunday School teacher before the war, he writes in an easy prose with an ability to describe a scene in almost photographic style. After a series of excellent letters describing mustering in and early camp life in Hartford, Savage`s letters move on to the war front. In January 1862, the 10th Connecticut joined Burnside`s Expedition to the Carolinas, taking part in the Battle of Roanoke on February 8, 1862, which Savage described in a typical, though unusually long (19p.) letter graced with a wonderful hand drawn map of the battleground. In typically direct prose, he describes the events following getting pinned down by Confederate fire: `Col. Russel now came up to General Foster who was standing just by where I was lying and told him they were cutting our men down like everything, and asked him if he wouldn`t order us to charge on the battery by a flank movement to the right, through those woods; and asked him if he could hold the position which he now had. The Col. told him yes, then says the General you had better, for I think they have a better command over the wood there, than of the position you now occupy, but hold on and I`ll do something to help you. Just then the Col. of the twenty first sent to General Foster and wished to know if he had any orders for him, he asked the officer sent, what he (the Col.) was doing, he said the Col. thought he could flank them, the[n] said he had no orders. (I am told that the Col. of the twenty first climbed a tree to reconnoiter, and his over coat was pierced with four rifle balls), he came down and says he boys we are giving it to them go ahead, and ahead they did go through the water and mud. When Col. Russel left the Gen., he went to his men, and ordered them to lay down; for they could do no good by firing, he himself lay down behind a log, as he raised up to give some order a buck shot struck him in the shoulder and passing through entered his heart. He said O! and was carried of the field and in a few minutes was dead. He acted with coolness and bravery; walking as erect as on dress parade. But a few minutes after this the Hawkins Zouaves came up and were ordered to take the woods on the right; but without stopping for the woods, they pushed on the road for the fort, when about half way there all the troops set up a tremendous cheering, and on looking to see what was the matter, I saw the glorious old flag floating over the fort. The twenty first had done their work. Although the Zouaves were in the fort about as quick, and I guess the regiment was quicker, but they didn`t stop here they pushed on after the rebel fugitives, and plunder, for they (the revels) threw away lots of things in their flightÂ…` (Feb. 10-16, 1862). Military success continued through the capture of New Berne in early March. Moving into position, and fearing the Confederate return, Savage reported that his regiment was using escaped slaves to secure their position: `we have about one hundred contraband employed in building a neat little breastwork: they have a white band around their hats with United States Servant printed on it in large letters; it seems to please them very much; and they work like good fellows. They have an idea that we came down here to liberate them all, and they claim our protection. Their condition when we came here was miserable indeed, on account of the scarcity of every thing and and exceeding high prices of foodÂ…` (March 6, 1862). Six days later, the 10th overwhelmed the Confederates, and once again engaged in looting. `We were not in a position in the field to see any but our own men, we were directly in front of the battery but we kept up such a rattleing that they couldn`t get a chance, they would load their pieces and put them over breast work and pull them off, they said, as sure as any man raised his head he was a dead manÂ… we followed down the railroad to the bridge which they had set on fire and was still burning then turned off into a field and built some fires and tried to rest. The city was now burning and such a black smoke I never sawÂ… Some of the fellows went to the city the next day and obtained articles of value. Lieu Close got a nice gold watch which he has sent homeÂ… The most I got was about fifty sheets of music which I shall send home by express` (March 17, 1862). In the same envelope, he continued his narrative of the capture on a sheet of stationery liberated in New Bern featuring a cannon and Confederate flag motif with brief poem and datelined `Confederate States of America` (printed by W. & J. Bonitz, Goldsboro, N.C.` Ironically, he later wrote that he would not send home his plunder, given that postage would cost more than the music. In New Berne, the regiment found a secure position, facing weak opposition, despite incursions from the occasional guerrilla. After snipers used a local building to fire upon Union trains and guards several times in the span of a few days, Gen. Foster responded harshly: `The next morning General Foster ordered the buildingÂ… to be destroyed, and every thing about the premises, some of the building next to it were also destroyed. I am told that some of the citizens went to General Foster and remonstrated with him about destroying so much property. General Foster told them that this business of shooting sentinels must be stopped immediately, and in [sic] it was not he would make a parade ground in the center of the city. He told them he had camped out once and he could again.` Coincidentally or not, such incidents diminished. In the relative calm, Savage set up elaborate quarters (elaborately described) and, on occasion, got out to talk with the local citizenry. In New Berne, he met with a professed Union man, whom he suspected of closet Secesh sympathies. The `rich old codger` named Richardson, he reported, had lost `sixty head` of negroes when the Union came in, and even if he could reclaim them, they would only run away again. His attitude towards Blacks clashed with Savage`s. `He contended they did not know as much as a white and did not know enough to take care of themselves and all such talk as that, when we knew better for we had seen it tried since we had been here in New Berne. And we told him se we told him that give them compensation for their labor and they would work willingly without the overseer to keep them at it. We told how we had seen them at work building the forts and bridges at town take the job and go ahead with it just as well as a white man, we told him liberty was so sweet and money as good for them as us, but he was invinsible. Then he came on and said `if the nigger is as good as the white man, let them become as the white men, vote, take his oath in court and swear a man`s life away.` Then we told him `why is not his oath as good as a white man`s.` I had rather take most any of the niggers oath, or risk my life in any of their hands; quicker than I would in most any white mans I have seen since I have been in North Carolina, not excepting the old chap himself ` (Aug. 16-17, 1862) Savage was sidelined with malaria and (possibly) dysentery during the Kinston-Whitehall-Goldsborough Expedition of December 1862, but nevertheless sent home a 15p. report of events. As stragglers and the first line of soldiers returned, he wrote that the `gallant old tenth,` were `said to have charged over the top of four regiments who were lying down, charged on a burning bridge extinguished the flames, and drove the enemy capturing a stand of South Carolina State colors, but at what a cost. One hundred and four are reported killed and wounded. Sixteen in our company` (December 12-20, 1862). Later that winter, though, calm was restored, and the regiment moved on to Seabrook Island, S.C., where Savage, as he often did, fretted about Copperheadism in his native state and the local elections. `We are anxiously waiting for news from Connecticut concerning the election there wether Secesh gained the power over liberty and right. If we should hear of Seymour being elected I do not know but I should be like an old democrat and officer in some Connecticut Regiment. He said if Seymour was elected, he should never go into the state of Connecticut to live again. If I did not go there to live I should want to go there to fight rebels. Where is the boasted strength of our government, if such men as Vallandingham, Seymour and some other too numerous to mention be allowed to run at large and utter such sentiments as Vallandingham uttered in the halls of Congress and in a speech in New York. Traitors of the blackest dye acknowledged friends of Jeff Davis and the southern Confederacy, and deserve to be treated just the same a[s] Davis. I say again, if there is not strength enough to put down such men as those openly speaking treason in our northern cities what is the use fighting Jeff Davis. It is not worth fighting for` (April 1, 1862). Although boredom was as much a threat as hostile fire during much of the summer, Savage took part in a reconnaissance on June 20, 1863, that turned dangerous. `We had no sooner commenced our march on this road then the rebels opened on us from the windows of the house with pistols or carbines or whatever they were armed with. The balls fell all around us but no one was hurt although several shots came very close. They kept up the fire until we were out of range. We were but just inside of the woods when we saw a great dust around the house we had just left which we supposed was reinforcements, and we were right for soon quite a large force of cavalry could be seen moving round in the field in different directions as if to find the Yankees. After a little we could see they were advancing toward the plantation in front, when they were about half way across they came to a halt and opened fire with a piece of artillery after firing two rounds at the house they came on down toward the house. It now became apparent that we we[re] going to have a little brush, if not more. We had one field piece on hand and had sent for the second, and it would soon be here, we were only waiting for them to fire first, which they were not long in doing. And immediately after we sent them two shells in reply one from each of our pieces. The firing was kept up for some time, one of our pieces fired twenty two the other twenty rounds. They shots as well as ours being too high, no one on our side was hurt except one man who was just mounting his horse to go after ammunition.` From July until October, 1863, the 10th Connecticut moved into line on Morris Island, taking part in the siege of Charleston. He described the bombardment on one of his in the siege as `a day when cannon balls flew like bullets around our heads, the bursting of shells over our heads and one either side of us, within six and eight feet of us shaking the ground like an and throwing the mud and dirt forty and fifty feet in the airÂ… the only serious accidents that occurred being that of Lt. Col. Robt. Leggett, comd. the regiment who had his leg taken off with a piece of shell; and a man of company H was slightly wounded in the forehead, with a splinter several mothers more or less injured. One had a quantity of mud thrown by an exploding shell strike him on the arm and nearly disabled it, another was struck across the back and hurt considerably. Two men in 1 hole about six feet from where I was were covered up, one entirely the other all but his head and had to be dug out. Sharpshooters flourished somewhat, one man Corp. Burnet, stood up for a minute and a rifle ball struck him on the breast and glancing struck his arm marking him in both placesÂ…` (July 26, 1863). From their positions, they could see the city center in Charleston and, under constant fire, the defensive fortifications they were continually strengthening. For the patriotic, Democrat-hating, recruit-encouraging non-com, Charleston represented a turn of fortunes and attitudes. The failure to capture the city and bumps on the road to his commission annoyed him, and although he encouraged his company to reenlist while stationed in comfortable quarters in St. Augustine in December 1863, things gradually began to go down hill. In April 1864, the regiment was transferred to Virginia, where they played a prominent role in the operations at Walthall`s Junction and Drewry Bluff in May, where Savage was nearly killed. `As we raised the hill,` he wrote, `our battery, (which was already then opened) opened and the rebels who had got a gun in position on another hill and replied with great accuracy, the first shell bursting directly over our regiment injuring one or two slightly, and soon another followed but not as high as the other. I saw it coming directly for me, and attempted to dodge and saved a leg by the operation, it passing between my legs, through the company injuring two or three and destroying one or two guns` (May 17, 1864). Their experiences in the withering engagements at Bermuda Hundred (June 16 1864), Deep Bottom and Deep Run (Aug, 1864), and other engagements near Petersburg were little better, the 10th catching the brunt of the action, losing heavily and losing in demoralizing fashion. Savage himself was shot in the breadbasket in Deep Run, though he was only bruised, but he was left wondering whether the sacrifices he and his comrades had made were worth it if others were allowed to malinger at home. `Do you think it will spoil all the good I have done if I serve my country, giving up the pleasures and comforts of home and friends, enduring hardships & privations, exposing my health; and life, not only to almost certain disease in some form, but to the deadly missiles of a cruel enemy; then because I was [promoted to an officer with the priveledge of resigning and I chose to avail myself of that priveledge: feeling that I have fully discharged my duty, and that I am needed at home, and the agents of the government of our country chose to dismiss me from the service because I can not feel it my duty to serve longer?Â… There are men who feel it there duty to stay, and had just as soon stay as go home, but, I am not one of them, and never shall be willingly` (Aug. 31, 1864). When the three years` enlistment of the regiment expired at the end of September, Savage tendered his resignation. Only ninety men were left in the ranks in early October, and half of these became casualties at Darby Road on October 13, Savage`s last engagement. Writing with incredible regularity, Savage excels at describing the details of camp life, troop movements, target practice, and engagements large and small. In clear and effective prose, he provides a detailed and almost day-by-day chronicle of the history of the 10th Connecticut Infantry as it took part in the early operations in the Carolinas and in the vicinity of Petersburg. More importantly, the collection documents the ebb and flow of morale in an ideologically committed soldier who becomes soured on his experience. Although he leaves the army before the end of the war, Savage insisted on his commitment to the cause, even as he argued that he had done his duty and was needed more at home than in the field. In addition to the letters describing battles, skirmishes, and camp life, the collection includes a small, and rare folding card for the Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon and Hospital, including list of the Committee and Committee of Ladies and brief description of its mission and two handsome engravings of the Saloon and Hospital. Letters in generally fine condition, most in envelopes (some with stamps clipped). A massive and complete Civil Wa r archive of a sort becoming increasingly scarce. This lot also includes his framed postwar recognition as 2nd Lieutenant, Co. B, in the 10th signed by Governor James English, July 4, 1867.
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