Bissell and Bisbee in the Civil War -- 1862
John Hatch Bissell, age 20 and son of Mercy Ann Searle and Benoni Bliss Bissell of Goshen, Mass., and George Asahel Bisbee, age 22 and son of Asahel Bisbee and Eliza Burt Stebbins of Chesterfield, Mass., volunteered for three years of service in the Union Army in September of 1862. The war had begun in the spring of 1861. They signed up with the 37th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, organized at Pittsfield on August 30, 1862. They would be in the same Company for nearly three years, until the end of the war in 1865.
In their Company was a Sergeant named William Shaw. Shaw had volunteered for service in the Army the previous year. He kept a daily diary throughout the entire Civil War. Some years ago, Brian Bissell came across and acquired a copy of Shaw's diary. In his detailed diary, he would note various aspects of the Company's daily activities, including who was wounded, became ill or was killed. The information on this website about Bissell and Bisbee's Civil War experiences comes mostly from Shaw's diary as well as from various books that were in the collection of Henry Greene Parker (my father) whose grandfather William Ross Parker was also in the Civil War, serving in a Union Army regiment from Illinois and fighting in Kentucky. Those books include The Photographic History of the Civil War, 10 volumes, ed. by Francis Miller, 1912, New York, and others.
Bissell and Bisbee went with the Regiment to Washington, D.C. September 7, 1862. The material from Shaw's diary is "quoted" throughout.
The U.S. Army's records (re-written sometime after the War) above record the enlistment of Bissell and Bisbee, originally enrolling in late July and then mustering out in Pittsfield in the first week of September. The recruiting poster above is typical of those used to encourage enlistments in the Union Army.
"The regiment having been fully organized and mustered into the United States service August 30, 1862 as the 37th Regiment fo Massachusetts Volunteers, was ordered to Washington the 7th day of September."
"September 30th we were ordered to join the army. In going from Frederick City [Maryland] to Downsville, we passed over the battlefield of South Mountain. The battle was fought two days before. We saw by the roadside where the rebels had buried many of their dead, and it was so rocky and full of roots there was very little earth on them. Their feet, hands and faces were all in sight, as they had to bury them in a hurry."
William Shaw, October 1, 1862.
"A long tedious march was before us. On the 8th of November we arrived at White Plain, Virginia, while here, we had a fine snow storm and with no shelter tents it was very uncomfortable sleeping in the snow; yet we made the best of it and looked around the lots for something to eat, found a flock of two hundred sheep and soon made mutton of them. Had plenty of meat that night and I guess some ate more than they slept."
William Shaw, November 8, 1862
The 37th Regiment was part of Devin's Brigade, Newton's Division in the Sixth Corps and was sent by the commander of Union forces, General Burnside, to take Fredericksburg, Virginia in mid-December 1862. Lead units of the army crossed the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg; the 37th regiment led the crossing of the Rappahannock but was then held in reserve at this first battle of Fredericksburg.
Union troops suffered staggering casualties while attempting to assault Marye's Heights behind the town, where General Stonewall Jackson and General Robert E. Lee had dug in at the top of the Heights. After two days, Burnside called off the attack and crossed back over the Rappahannock, ending the campaign.
Winter Camp, 1862-1863
White Oak Church, Virginia
During the Civil War, the armies on both sides generally did not fight during the winter months, from about December or January through April. The Army of Virginia, the main Union army which included the 6th Corps, went into "winter camp" at White Oak Church, Virginia, a few miles from Falmouth, Virginia. In January 1863, the troops participated in Burnside's ill-fated "mud march," an offensive meant to cross the Rappahannock north of Fredericksburg.
The mud of a January thaw slowed the Union troops while the rebels had a chance to get in a good defensive position, and the offensive was abandoned.
The winter quarters, as can be noted in both of these pictures, included small log cabins (some were part tent, part log cabin) with a fireplace and a chimney. One contemporaneous soldier's account recounted cooking "an Irish stew of beans, found in camp and they tasted good, the fact that the top of the fireplace fell into the kettle to the contrary, notwithstanding. To be sure, we skimmed off the most of the mud." Despite a perhaps cozy fireplace, this winter camp has been called "the Union Army's Valley Forge." More than 200 men deserted every day. Illness and disease were rampant and food sat in warehouses in Washington, D.C., awaiting delivery to the army.
The winter months were the time when many soldiers had a leave during which they could go home. We don't know, as it is not mentioned in Shaw's diary, whether either Bissell or Bisbee had a leave during the winter of 1862-63 but it is likely that one or both of them had a chance to go home for a visit during one or more winter camps.
"In the first week of April 1863, President Abraham Lincoln, his wife Mary and son Tad sailed on the Carrie Martin to Aquia Creek, Virginia and then went by train to the Army of the Potomac winter quarters at Falmouth Station (White Oak Church), arriving Sunday April 5, 1863.
"On Monday April 6, Lincoln, General Joseph Hooker and Lincoln's son Tad rode out on horseback and reviewed the troops "that stretched for miles over the rolling hills." Lincoln and his wife sat for hours as more than 60,000 soldiers passed by in review.
This is a picture of President Lincoln visiting a Union army camp during the war. I don't know which camp or what year, but it shows how Lincoln might look visiting one of the winter camps.
"Lincoln enjoyed mingling with the men and extended his visit until Friday April 10, reviewing troops several times. "Tremendously heartened by the splendid condition of the army and the high spirits and reception of the troops, Lincoln boarded the Carrie Martin at sunset on Friday for the return trip to Washington."
Doris Kearns Goodwin in Team of Rivals.