Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.life From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Sword links lives of 2 soldiers Date: Sat, 14 Nov 92 16:22:11 EST Message-ID: \SE B;LIFE;THE CIVIL WAR \HD Sword links lives of 2 soldiers \SH Southern officer surrendered it at Wilderness \BY Robert O. Bigelow \CR SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES The sword's inscription only hints at the remarkable Civil War adventures of two ordinary young men - one from the South, the other a Northerner. "Captured from Capt. T.S. Armistead 8th Florida Infty C.S.A. On the morning of the 6th of May 1864 at the battle of the Wilderness Both men had seen much of the war before their paths crossed in the Wilderness. And there was more to come. 0ne went on to fight and serve another day. The other lost his sword and endured the rest of the war amid the starvation and disease of a Union prison camp. He also suffered the terror that was the lot of the "Immortal 600." Thomas Armistead enlisted in the Confederate Army on March 17, 1862, at Marianna, Fla. The Gadsden County, Fla., native was 19 when commissioned a second lieutenant and assigned to Company E, 8th Florida Infantry (Perry's Brigade). By the time he joined his unit in Virginia, Union forces had closed many Southern ports and had begun to win in the West. Despite defeat at Second Manassas, the Army of the Potomac prevailed at Antietam. Armistead had done a lot of soldiering in a short time and remained unscathed until a shot tore into his leg on May 3, 1863, at Chancellorsville. Two days after the battle, he arrived at Chimborazo Hospital in Richmond and later was transferred to a hospital back in Marianna. In September 1863, he rejoined his regiment in Virginia. He had missed Gettysburg, but he was in time to share the fighting, near-starvation and bitter cold as Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and George Meade's Army of the Potomac maneuvered prior to the spring campaign of 1864. On May 4, the two armies headed for battle in the same locale of Virginia where they had struggled the year before: in the Wilderness and at Spotsylvania, near Chancellorsville. A year after being wounded at Chancellorsville and a few miles away, Armistead was captured on May 6, 1864. Before being herded off by Yankee captors, he surrendered his sword to Capt. Waldo Bigelow. Bigelow was born in Framingham, Mass., on June 30, 1838. He graduated from Allegheny College in Pennsylvania and came to Baltimore in 1859. When the 6th Massachusetts regiment was attacked by a mob of secessionists there on April 19, 1861, he took an active role in trying to help the troops. A day or two later he went to Cockeysville, outside Baltimore, to intercept some Pennsylvania troops who planned on going through Baltimore. When told of a scheme by the rampaging secessionists to blow up the bridges around Baltimore, the Pennsylvania commander asked Bigelow to get a message through to President Lincoln. With the message sewn in the lining of his coat, Bigelow rode his horse through the night to deliver the dispatch in person to the president. In the next months Bigelow helped with the recruiting of the Maryland 1st and 2nd regiments. He was commissioned a first lieutenant in June and served with the 2nd Maryland in the battles to secure the coastal North Carolina ports. The Maryland unit was then sent to Northern Virginia to join the forces under Gen. John Pope. During the pullback prior to Second Manassas, Bigelow was captured on Aug. 20, 1862, near Kelly's Ford on the Rappahannock. He was taken to Richmond and confined in Libby Prison. After a short stay at Libby, he was exchanged and paroled at Aikens Landing on the James River. From there he proceeded to Camp Parole at Annapolis. Following a period of rest and recuperation, he rejoined the 2nd Maryland at Aquia Creek. When Gen. Ambrose Burnside was transferred to the Western Theater after the terrible federal losses at Fredricksburg, the Maryland troops and Bigelow also went west. Much of 1863 was spent in heavy service, helping to secure Tennessee and Kentucky and quelling unrest in Cincinnati. In early 1864, Burnside's IX Corps returned east. Although not part of the Army of the Potomac, they were to be used in Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's coming campaign. As the Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan River, Grant saw that Lee intended to move up and fight. He ordered Burnside to join a line of battle in the Wilderness as soon as possible. Last to cross the river and slowed by wagons and troops crowding the approaches to the Wilderness, the IX Corps did not have a part in the first day of battle. However, some were in position and committed at first light on May 6. Bigelow, detached to serve as an aide to Burnside, was in the first wave of fighting around the Widow Tapp Farm and the Orange Plank Road. Confederate Armistead and the Florida troops were assigned to support Gen. Henry Heth's division west of the Tapp Farm. Though the Confederates opened the fighting at daybreak, 20,000 federals fell on them. The division began breaking up and falling back. It must have been at this time that the surrounded Floridians laid down their arms. Armistead handed over his sword and awaited whatever fate his captors had in store for him. First he was taken to Carver Hospital and to Old Capitol Prison in Washington. In June, he was sent to Fort Delaware prison camp. For most soldiers, capture meant their war was over and all that remained was to hunker down in dismal confinement and hope to survive. This was not the fate of Armistead and 599 fellow Confederate officers. They were to face one of the most excruciating ordeals of the war. The 600 were crowded on a ship designed for 300 and sailed for points south. But the men were cheered by a rumor that they were to be exchanged. However, when they arrived at Morris Island, off Charleston, S.C., they learned the truth, and it was sickening. They were placed in a stockade between Fort Wagner and Cumming's Point in the line of Confederate artillery firing on Union troops. As they suffered and endured captivity and bombardment, they found hidden strength in calling themselves the Immortal 600. The Union commander irked some of these unfortunate Southerners by assigning them to the custody of the 54th Massachusetts - the first black regiment mustered by the federals. The 54th had lost its commander, suffered heavy casualties and gained glory in the battle for Fort Wagner in 1863. Though the Immortal 600 might utter terrible vows as to what they would do if given a chance at their wardens, these black soldiers had their orders and, without doubt or hesitation, carried them out. When Charleston fell, Armistead and survivors of the 600 were returned to Fort Delaware to await the end of the war. Thomas Armistead survived the last days, took an oath of allegiance to the United States and was released on June 17, 1865. After returning home, he became a preacher and lived to age 80. He died on Nov. 16, 1922. Waldo Bigelow also survived the war. He served on the staffs of five generals, including Burnside, and was brevetted major for gallant service in the field. He resigned from the Army in July 1865. In 1868, Grant appointed him postmaster at Annapolis. After serving there 12 years, he moved to Baltimore and entered business. He died on Sept. 16, 1902, and was buried in St. Anne's Cemetery in Annapolis. The sword, with its few inscribed words, was relegated to an attic trunk for more than 125 years. Its report of the Wilderness encounter was a clue to tales of war and drama lived by two citizen soldiers in the great American conflict, 1861-1865. Robert O. Bigelow, a native of Baltimore and a graduate of the University of Maryland, is a retired Air Force pilot who flew in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. He lives in Yorktown, Va. After retirement, he became curious about the sword his great-grandfather brought home from his war and began tracking down the story of these two soldiers. ****BOX A UPCOMING EVENTS District, Nov. 18: National Geographic Society presents "Tenting Tonight: Music of the Civil War," with musicians Jay Ungar and Molly Mason. At 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m., 1600 M St. NW. Further information, 202/775-7885. Through June 1993: The museum at the Washington Navy Yard presents "Reporting the War: Newspaper Illustrations of the Civil War." The Navy Yard is at Ninth and M streets SE. Use the Southeast-Southwest Freeway's Sixth Street SE exit or take Metro's Green Line to the Navy Yard stop. Further information, 202/433-4882. Virginia, Nov. 21 and 22: The 12th annual Capital of the Confederacy Civil War Show will be held at the Virginia State Fairgrounds in Richmond. Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Call 804/273-2358. Through February: The Manassas Museum, at 9101 Prince William St., presents the "Return of Stonewall," with displays of his pocket watch, funeral flag and a lock of his hair. Call 703/368-1873. Through Dec. 14: Sgt. Kirkland's Museum and Historical Society presents an exhibit of Union and Confederate newspapers that covered the Battle of Fredericksburg. 912 Lafayette Blvd. in Fredericksburg. Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Maryland, Tomorrow: Fort Washington presents the Capital Guardian in a demonstration of musket firing and drills from noon to 4 p.m. Fort Washington is reached by Exit 3A of the Capital Beltway or the Indian Head Highway exit of Interstate 295. Go south on Indian Head Highway four miles and turn right at Fort Washington Road. Further information, Don Steiner, 301/763-4600. Today and tomorrow: Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg presents Steve Stotelmyer, author of "The Bivouacs of the Dead," who will discuss the burial process for the thousands of dead from the Maryland campaign. A slide show on the book begins at 1 p.m., followed by a book signing at the visitors center and a walking tour of the cemetery at 2:30 p.m. Further information, 301/432-5124. Through March 30: "Occupied Baltimore: Civil War Prints from the Robert G. Merrick Collection" is sponsored by the Maryland Historical Society, 201 W. Monument St., Baltimore. Call 410/685-3750. ****BOX B CIVIL WAR BOOKSHELF Sherman at War, by Joseph H. Ewing. (Morningside, 1992, 194 pages, illus.) Jubal: The Life and Times of General Jubal A. Early, CSA, Defender of the Lost Cause, by Charles C. Osborne. (Algonquin Books, pub. date Oct. 1992, 530 pages, illus.) The War Between the Spies: A History of Espionage During the American Civil War, by Alan Axelrod. (Atlantic Monthly Press, pub. date Sept. 25, 1992, 306 pages, illus.) Images of the Civil War: The Paintings of Mort Kunstler, the Text of James M. McPherson, (Gramercy Books, pub. date Sept. 15, 1992, $19.99, 189 pages, illus.) To the Gates of Richmond: The Peninsula Campaign, by Stephen W, Sears. (Ticknor & Fields, $25, 468 pgs, pub. date Dec. 1, 1992. illus.) Decision in the West: The Atlanta Campaign of 1864, by Albert Castel. (University Press of Kansas, $29.95, 688 pages, pub. date Nov. 2, 1992. illus.) Union In Peril: The Crisis over British Intervention in the Civil War, by Howard Jones. (The University of North Carolina Press, $34.95, 300 pages, pub. date Nov. 16, 1992. illus.) Pea Ridge: Civil War Campaign in the West, by William L. Shea & Earl J. Hess. (The University of North Carolina Press, $29.95, 417 pages, pub. date Nov 30., 1992. illus.) This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM