Regimental Matters - Revere Assumes Command

Monday, April 13, 1863

Colonel Francis Palfrey, still suffering from severe wounds received at Antietam, resigned command of the Twentieth Massachusetts. Colonel Paul Revere, grandson of the famous midnight rider of April 18, 1775, was appointed by Massachusetts governor John Andrew as new commander. ¹

References:
¹George A. Bruce, The Twentieth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry 1861 - 1865 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Riverside Press, 1906), 235.

Journey of the Captives

Thursday, December 5, 1861

In Ligon Prison Adjutant Charles Peirson received two encouraging letters. In the first letter Naval Commander William G. Saltonstall offered to send assistance of any kind. In the second letter John Murray Forbes, a wealthy philanthropist and friend of Massachusetts Governor John Andrew, notified Peirson that he was trying to lodge credit in Richmond of one-thousand dollars to be used for the benefit of Massachusetts prisoners of war.¹

References:
¹Charles Lawrence Peirson, "Memorandum of the Battle of Leesburg," Association of Officers of the Twentieth Massachusetts Regiment, Reports, Letters and Papers Appertaining to Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, vol. 1, p. 122, Twentieth Massachusetts Special Collection, Boston Public Library, Boston, Massachusetts.

A Name Brilliant and Glorious ...

Tuesday, October 29, 1861
To bolster morale in the dispirited regiment, Governor John Andrew of Massachusetts issued General Order Number 70, in which he offered gratitude and praise for their valiant service at Ball's Bluff. Lieutenant Colonel Palfrey read the order to the regiment at dress parade:

His Excellency John A. Andrew, Governor of Mass. desires to express through the proper channel his sincere thanks to the officers and privates of the 20th Regt. Mass. Vols. for the bravery which they displayed in the recent battle at Ball's Bluff, and for the admirable discipline which their behavior there so strongly bears evidence of. He regrets the severe loss sustained by the regiment, and deeply sympathizes with the wounded and the suffering relatives of the dead and wounded, but will assure the regiment that they have earned and own a name brilliant and glorious, and that the Bay State is proud to recognize them as sons, and as sons worthy of the Commonwealth and worthy to share past glories of the Commonwealth.

In his statement Governor Andrew intended not only to bolster morale but also to strengthen the recruiting effort through recognition of valiant service. Captain Henry Tremlett of Company A was dispatched to Boston to take charge of recruitment. The regiment hoped to acquire two hundred additional enlistments over the winter.¹

References:
¹George A. Bruce, The Twentieth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry 1861 - 1865 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Riverside Press, 1906), 63, 71; Richard F. Miller, Harvard's Civil War: A History of the Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (Lebanon, New Hampshire: University Press of New England, 2005), 88.