Oliver's Story - Petition to Governor Andrew

Friday, June 12, 1863

Private Oliver Stanton Bates of Company A was one of the many signatures on the petition to Massachusetts Governor John Andrew requesting the removal of Sumner Paine from command. It is unclear from available records whether or not Oliver was an object of Paine’s disciplinary actions or the dislike for Paine was so prevalent among the enlisted men of the regiment that Oliver signed in solidarity to his comrades. At the time of the petition Paine was in charge of Company G but at Gettysburg Paine was in charge of Company A, the company in which Oliver remained for the entire length of his service with the Twentieth Massachusetts Regiment.¹

References:
¹Petition to Governor John Andrew from the Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, 12 June 1863, Massachusetts State Archives.