Relieved from Front Line Duty

Wednesday, June 11, 1862

The Twentieth Massachusetts Regiment had remained in close proximity to the Confederate line since the first day of the Battle of Fair Oaks on May 31. Today the regiment was relieved from front line duty and set up camp nearly a mile behind the front line. Their new camp became known as Camp Lincoln. The men of the Twentieth enjoyed their first opportunity to wash and to change clothes since the recent battle.¹

During the eleven-day interval since the Battle of Fair Oaks the men of the Twentieth were engaged in intense picket fire which resulted in several casualties.²

References:
¹George A. Bruce, The Twentieth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry 1861 - 1865 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Riverside Press, 1906), 103.
²James Spencer, "Record of James Spencer," Association of Officers of the Twentieth Massachusetts Regiment, Reports, Letters and Papers Appertaining to Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, vol. 1, p. 57, Twentieth Massachusetts Special Collection, Boston Public Library, Boston, Massachusetts.