This “war paper” was first read before the Rhode Island Soldiers and Sailors Society, in Providence, October 19, 1886. Subsequently it was read at the annual winter reunion of the Eleventh Rhode Island Regiment (January 27, 1887), two companies of which regiment (B and F) were recruited in Pawtucket, the former commanded by Captain Charles W. Thrasher and Lieutenant Thomas Moies, and the latter by Captain Edward Taft. It has since been read several times before other associations and societies.

During the winter preceding the firing upon Sumter, I was one of a group of young fellows of about my own age who regularly assembled evenings at the corner grocery of the village where we lived, to listen to older persons discuss the affairs of the nation and all other matters, moral, intellectual and social, as is the nightly custom in country groceries, and particularly the probabilities of war between the North and the South, which, I will say in passing, every day grew more probable. Each s

It was on the afternoon of the sixth of October, 1862, when we kissed our wives and sweethearts, and “With our guns upon our shoulders, And our bayonets by our sides,” left Camp Stevens for the seat of war. We were in anything but light marching order when we broke camp. To this day the remembrance of those back-breaking knapsacks makes me weary. Feminine ingenuity seemingly exhausted itself in conjuring up all sorts of things, describable and indescribable, that could make life a burden to a “r

Of the movements of the Eleventh regiment while in Virginia, I will not weary you with a rehearsal in detail. Our first regular camp was established on Miner’s Hill, the extreme outer part of the defenses of Washington, and when we reached it on a cold, raw, blustering day late in the fall of 1862, the wind filling our eyes and mouths with a blinding and grinding dust, it was the most dismal and dreary-looking place that I ever saw—with the single exception of Seekonk Plains. We remained here ab

All were in high glee and the mythical goose occupied an elevated position when we “broke camp” and left Miner’s Hill. The intelligent contraband who used to visit us every morning to dispose of his “baked fried pies” was promptly on hand to collect the small sums from the boys which still remained unpaid; and after the line had begun to move, another darkey, who had been doing the washing for a large number of persons connected with the regiment, and one of whose customers—presumably an officer

“Jumping from the frying-pan into the fire,” the most of us thought when we reached Alexandria, after leaving the Convalescent Camp, and found that we were to be furnished with transportation to Norfolk on the old steamer “Hero,” which, as the “Argo,” ran between Providence and Rocky Point long “befo’ de wah.” We thought our accommodations could never be worse than they were when we landed at the “Soldiers’ Retreat” in Washington, but had a rivalry existed between the two concerns, the “Hero” wo

Elsewhere I have spoken of an “unconditional surrender” Union man whom I overhauled while on picket duty on the Norfolk and Petersburg railroad. All southern men—and women, too, as to that matter—were not so loyal as that old man was, as is shown by the following incident which occurred on the morning of our arrival in Suffolk. While marching down the principal street we were halted for a few minutes. Immediately all the doorsteps of the houses were appropriated by our men to their own use. My d

In common with soldiers generally, the ménu of our company was somewhat limited in variety, and the dishes served did not materially differ from day to day. Sunday, however, was an exception to this general rule when we were in camp. In accordance with the time-honored New England custom, on Sunday morning we had our “baked beans.” If we did not always remember to keep the Sabbath day holy, we certainly never forgot that it was the day for baked beans; and I sometimes thought that the appearance

While the Eleventh regiment was in service only nine months, and was never in action as a full regiment, yet it lost in that time two colonels. A certain fatality appeared to await those who were sent to take command of the regiment during the early part of its term of service. It seemed at one time as if the regiment was raised for the sole purpose of giving those who were to become colonels of other Rhode Island regiments an opportunity to perfect themselves in battalion drill and other milita

Suffolk was our last regular encampment. From there we went to Yorktown, expecting to take transportation home, as our term of service had nearly expired. After remaining there a few days we were, very much to our surprise, ordered up the peninsula. Somebody evidently made a mistake in his reckoning, for when we arrived at Williamsburg, only twelve miles distant from Yorktown, we were ordered back, an order which was not reluctantly obeyed, although had there been urgent need for the regiment’s

I have thus imperfectly, and to myself at least very unsatisfactorily, sketched the nine months’ war experiences of a “raw recruit” of the Eleventh Rhode Island regiment. Whatever has been said, if anything, which shall provoke criticism, be assured that “naught has been set down in malice.” As was said by one whose words I have already quoted, “the men composing the Eleventh regiment compared favorably with those of other regiments which went from Rhode Island.” Some theories, however, in regar