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Notes on the 20th Massachusetts
--from "Regimental Losses in the American Civil War", by William F. Fox
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| General Humphreys--Chief of Staff, Army of the Potomac
--in his able history, The Virginia Campaign of 1864
and 1865, alludes to the Twentieth as "one of the very
best regiments in the service." It served on the
Peninsula, and at Antietam, in Dana's (3d) Brigade,
Sedgwick's (2d) Division. At Fredericksburg, the brigade,
under Colonel Norman Hall of the Seventh Michigan, distinguished
itself by crossing the river in the face of the enemy's riflemen,
who occupied the buildings on the opposite bank. To the Twentieth
was assigned the bloody task of clearing the streets; in column of
companies, led by Macy, it fought its way through the main street
of the city exposed to a terrible fire from the windows and housetops;
its casualties in this fight were 25 killed and 138 wounded;
no missing. At Gettysburg, it lost 30 killed, 94 wounded,
and 3 missing; total, 127, out of 12 officers and 218 men
who went into that action. The Twentieth sustained the greatest
loss in battle of any Massachusetts regiment; also, a remarkable
fatality in its Field and Staff, losing a Colonel, Lieutenant-Colonel,
two Majors, an Adjutant, and a Surgeon, killed in battle. Colonel
Revere was mortally wounded at Gettysburg; Lieutenant-Colonel Ferdinand
Dreher received a fatal wound at Fredericksburg;
Major Henry L. Abbott was killed at the Wilderness;
Major Henry L. Patton died of wounds received at Deep
Bottom; and Surgeon Edward H. Revere was killed at Antietam
while in the discharge of his duties. |
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