“What We Accomplished”: A Soldier from the 33rd Massachusetts Reflects on 1863

War in the Western Theater is a hardcover book in the Emerging Civil War collection, featuring numerous authors and edited by Sarah Kay Bierle and Chris Mackowski. Here’s a new blog post featuring a regiment and primary source excerpt reflecting on a unit’s arrival in the Western Theater. 

Perhaps there is a tendency to “silo” the Eastern, Western, and Trans-Mississippi regions of the American Civil War. I know in the past I’ve been guilty of stringing together campaigns and battle timelines, cause and effect considerations, and narrow conclusions without looking beyond the “theater” of initial focus. But…the history books, official reports, and primary sources are excellent reminders that there was cross-over and certainly deep interest during the war years about what was happening in other places. Sometimes, victories or defeats in other regions impacted soldier and civilian morale.

There was also more travel between the regions of war than is sometimes remembered. Jefferson Davis traveled from Richmond, Virginia into the Western Theater on several occasions to try to sort out leadership problems. Generals transferred between theaters for positive and exile reasons. And sometimes entire corps moved to different theaters. The 33rd Massachusetts Infantry made the “theater transfer” with the XI Corps as it left the Army of the Potomac in early autumn 1863 and later broke up and transformed into the XX Corps in 1864.

The 33rd Massachusetts Infantry Regiment organized for military service in August 1862 and spent time in the defenses of Washington before arriving at the winter camps in Stafford, Virginia. As a regiment in the Second Brigade, Second Division of the XI Corps, they were involved in battle at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg in 1863 prior to their trip to the Western Theater, where they fought the battle of Wauhatchie, the Chattanooga-Ringgold Campaign, and relieving Knoxville before the year ended. Then 1864 found the regiment fighting in the advance on Atlanta and taking part in the March to the Sea and Siege of Savannah. In the final months of the war, the 33rd fought in the Carolinas Campaign and were present when Confederates commanded by Johnston surrendered at Bennett’s Place. After taking part in the Grand Review in Washington D.C., the regiment mustered out in June 1865.

As 1863 drew to a close, Pvt. Andrew J. Boies wrote in his diary, reflecting on the day-to-day happenings, the events of the year, and his predictions for the future:

Dec. 20. I have been at work all day building a log house; with the help of my comrade, William Marshall, from the 73d Ohio, we have built one eight feet long, six feet wide; a nice fire-place and a good bed, and here we sit as cosey and happy as you please, hoping that we have fought our last battle and that this rebellion will soon be over, and we have a speedy and safe return to our happy homes and mingle with those we love and from whom we have been parted so long.

Dec. 21, through 24th. I have not done much for the past few days. I have been thinking of our last campaign and what we accomplished in the space of four weeks for our country and its cause; and having done our duty, we have a reason to rejoice over a victory, that belongs to us. We have borne the fatigue without a murmur, we have travelled 250 miles and fought the enemy one-half of the time, have bivouacked upon the ground, endured both storm and sunshine, and we are still in good spirits. We had plenty to eat, for we captured any quantity of Bragg’s supplies, such as flour, corn, meal and salt. We would now and then confiscate a hen or a chicken, which was a rarity. I must pause, for I have just been detailed to go to Howard’s headquarters to build a stable for the officers’ horses. Our time is pretty well occupied, both in camp and on the march.

Dec. 25. A Merry Christmas, and I have been at work all day at Howard’s headquarters.

Dec. 26, through 31st. I have been very busy at headquarters all the week, making our officers comfortable for the winter. This being the last week of the old year, they make it quite lively for us pioneers.

Jan. 1. To-day is the first of another New Year, and with a stout heart, buoyed up by past success, I am ready for a struggle with 1864. I now realize that the wheels of time have swept another twelve months into the tomb of the dim and shadowy past. The year of 1863, to few, was a bright and joyous one, but to the many, alas! how sad the reverse; how many of their sweetest, proudest hopes bloomed into life, but they have withered in the shade of unrequited ambition. How many family circles have been robbed of a near and dear relative by the bloody hand of this fraticidal war; brave young, idols of happy homes and the pride of their county and its cause; but may we who are alive be thankful to the God of battles, “who doeth all things well,” and may this year bring joys that will son blot from our memory the sorrow and disappointments of 1863. God grant that this may be the last year that will find millions of this country arrayed against each other in the bloody conflict of a civil war, but that peace, the greatest of all blessings, will be restored to the land of our birth, and that all of our gallant soldiers in the tented field may have a safe return to the bosom of their families and friends, in the full enjoyment of good health and happiness of home. What the coming twelve months may develop is not for me to say, but I ask for an ensuing and a lasting peace that will result in happiness and prosperity, and I wait with all patience and do whatever my duty calls upon me to do; but I am afraid that my three years will be pretty well spent in “Uncle Samuel’s” service, and if so, I will be content….

I was over to the regiment, found the boys all well. I copy the following from an extract in the Richmond Enquirer. It says in regard to our fight with Bragg that “he is not to blame for running, for God never intended to give him that knowledge that belongs to other men.” Well done, Enquirer, what would you have said had Bragg made us run? It is down on “poor Jeff” for keeping Bragg in command so long, but he is out now and Hardee is trying to collect the remnant of his army that is left. Our weather is cool and it feels quite winterish, and the climate agrees with me first-rate….

The future is unknown to me, but to judge from the past. I know that we have gained the summit of the mountain and made our descent into the valley below, and if I judge the present by what we have experienced in the past, it is surety upon a good hold. A defeat has befallen our enemies, while we have been crowned with success. The “Star of Hope” still beams bright to cheer us on our way with more courage than before. Lookout mountain, a few weeks ago, bade us defiance, and from its top would be hurled shot and shell into our ranks, but to-day it is ours, and over it floats the “Stars and Stripes,” and all is calm and serene. It is Sabbath afternoon; raining down in torrents. I am snugly seated in my tent, with a good fire, and am as happy as my circumstances will admit. My knapsack serves me for a writing desk by day, as well as a pillow at night.

Jan. 11. It is night – time 10 o’clock – and I am trying to write a letter. My lamp is a tin plate, filled with pork fat, and a piece of cotton for a wick. Now will you pity the sorrows of a “poor old soldier” and wonder how it is that we get up such inventions as we do down here in Dixie? Well,  have learned how to live within my means, hoping that it may be beneficial to me when I leave the army.

Jan. 13. We are now fixing up our quarters for the winter, and we pioneers are having busy times, but we shall soon get done, and then it will be easy for a while. I was over to the regiment, this evening; found the boys well.

Jan 14, through 20th. All quiet in the Army of the Cumberland. Have done but very little the few days past; we are getting rested for the next campaign. . . . But by the time that I have served 18 months more, I guess that the C.S.A. will have gone up the “spout.”

Sources:

Andrew J. Boies, Record of the Thirty-third Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, from Aug. 1862 to Aug. 1865 (Fitchburg, Sentinel Printing Company, 1880) Pages 58-60.