Regimental Matters – Officers Return; Resignations and Promotions

Saturday, March 24, 1862

Earlier in the week Captains John C. Putnam and Ferdinand Dreher, First Lieutenant Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., and Second Lieutenant William Riddle returned to the regiment for the first time since their wounding at Ball’s Bluff in October 1861. Captain Allen Beckwith and First Lieutenant John LeBarnes resigned, and Lieutenant Holmes was promoted to Captain of Company G. Second Lieutenants August Muller and Nathaniel Messer were promoted to First Lieutenant.¹

References:
¹George A. Bruce, The Twentieth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry 1861 - 1865 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Riverside Press, 1906), 80.

Regimental Matters - Promotions and Commissions

Monday, November 25, 1861

Massachusetts Governor John Andrew bolstered the roster of officers by promoting First Lieutenants George Macy, Allen Beckwith, and Charles Cabot to Captains, and Second Lieutenants Henry Abbott, Charles Tilden, and Henry Sturgis to First Lieutenants.

Governor Andrew commissioned three Second Lieutenants from the enlisted men, namely First Sergeant William Riddle of Company I, Quartermaster Henry F. Sander, and First Sergeant James Murphy of Company A. In addition, he commissioned three new recruits as Second Lieutenants: Herbert C. Mason, Arthur R. Curtis, and Henry L. Patten.¹

References:
¹George A. Bruce, The Twentieth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry 1861 - 1865 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Riverside Press, 1906), 72.