Researcher: Dana Mangini

 

          The Twentieth Regiment was recruited at Camp Massasoit, Reedville, in July and August, 1861.  The regiment left camp Maasasoit September 4, and on the 7th reached Washington.  Assigned to General Lander’s Brigade, General Stone’s Corps if Observations.

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          On October 21, they fought in Bails Bluff, they lost 194 officers and men, 38 were killed or mortally wounded. The regiment also lost Kernel Lee as a prisoner. He didn’t last long. The people that participated in the 20th regiment war were graduates that went to Harvard. They named this Regiment, Harvard Regiment. It was one of the most honored regiments because a lot of Harvard graduates joined the regiments.

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          At Ball’s Bluff they made a big plan. They had a camp where they did a lot of training to prepare for the battles, and they trained for six months. At camp, every morning they did daily drills and had Sunday morning brigade inspections. They had no certain time for rest.

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          They had a training school and they were taught to progress an army. They had to know how to put people in ambulances, carry men in ladders, how to make tourniquet, put on bandages, build ovens, and pretend to be wounded so they did some acting too. They were there to be taught to help out a lot of people.

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          When they went to fight in a war, they went in boats. They fought streets in cities. When they were fighting they eventually lost everyone but ten men and an officer at Remise station on August 25, 1864.  They were very patriotic, and were willing to die for their country. The famous soldiers that fought in the war were Oliver Wendell Holmes Junior, Henry L. Abbot, and Paul Revere Junior.

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          The battle won its fame not only of the Harvard graduates, but by the bloody and harsh wars.  The war lasted from 1861 threw 1865. It ranked the 5th out of the best regiments in Massachusetts. It ranked high for the people involved.

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          They were not followers, they didn’t need to fight in the war, but they were committed because they were willing to die for their country. They had a lot of opportunities and they chose to fight in the war. They were the brightest and the best people to fight.

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          On July 15th the team was dismissed, and on July 28th they were paid off and discharged. On July 3, 1863 Bernard McGuire died. They buried him at the Davis Thayer Cemetery. A fund was raised by his friends at the Boston Public Library.