CAPT. J. J. THOMPSON, COMPANY H, 22ND MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS: A PAIR OF CIVIL WAR MANUSCRIPT COMPANY RECORD BOOKS, COMPRISING A MORNING REPORT BOOK AND A DESCRIPTIVE BOOK, PRINCIPALLY 1861–1862

Two large-format printed record books completed in manuscript ink, preserved in their original paper-covered boards with leather spines and corners; the Descriptive Book inscribed on the cover to “Capt. J. J. Thompson,” and retaining a period stationer’s label of Josiah L. Fairbanks, Boston. A notably attractive and uncommon paired survival of working company books from the 22nd Massachusetts Volunteers, kept under the authority of Capt. J. J. Thompson of Company H, documenting both the administrative machinery and the lived experience of a Massachusetts company in its first campaigning year.

Note: ~8 Pages in “Descriptive Book” have been filled/partially filled, while ~37 have been filled or partially filled in the “Morning Report Book.”

The Morning Report Book contains copied regimental and company orders, tabular morning returns, and several narrative entries tracing the history of Company H from its recruitment in August 1861 and encampment at Camp Schouler, Lynnfield, through the regiment’s departure from Boston after review on the Common by Governor Andrew and the presentation of colors by Edward Everett, the southward transit by New York, Perth Amboy, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, and the establishment of camp at Halls Hill, Virginia. Particularly vivid are the field narratives of the spring 1862 campaign: the march from Halls Hill to Fairfax Court House and Alexandria; embarkation on the Daniel Webster for Fortress Monroe; encampments at Hampton and near New Market Bridge; scouting toward Big Bethel; the advance to Yorktown, with references to picket duty, trench work, battery construction, and the raising of the Stars and Stripes after the Confederate evacuation; and subsequent movements by steamer and on foot through West Point, White House, Tunstall’s, Beaver Dam Creek, and Gaines’s Mill.

Elsewhere, the volume preserves copied orders relating to uniform, drill, inspection, tents, discipline, profanity, courts-martial, and sutler appointments, while the printed morning-report forms record the company’s daily strength (present for duty, sick, on extra duty, confined, or absent). Intriguing details of expected decorum by soldiers are provided, such as "The Commanding Officers expects that all belt plates, tips of scabbards, and metal hat ornaments shall always be perfectly bright and the clothing clean and neat."  While minor corrections are documented throughout the record, so is too the more severe instances of insubordination, which is mentioned with some amount of frequency throughout the record. One could conceive that unrest lay among the soldiers of the 22nd Massachusetts regiment, based purely upon the notations made throughout the book: "The occurrences of the last 24 hours render it necessary for the Commanding Officer to particularly call the attention of all officers and men to the following articles of war, which will be rigidly enforced. Art.1 Any officer or soldier, who shall begin, excite, cause, or joining in any mutiny in any troop or company in the service of the United States or in any party past or detachment or guard shall suffer death or such other punishment as by a court martial shall be inflicted." A fascinating insight into the regiment's demands upon its men.

The companion Descriptive Book provides the personal counterpart to this operational record. Officers and enlisted men of Company H are entered by name and rank, with age, eye and hair color, complexion, height, birthplace, occupation, place and date of enlistment, enlisting officer, and term of service. Eighty-five men are documented, providing individual information for each recorded member of Company H. The company’s strong local character is immediately apparent: many of the men are drawn from Haverhill and neighboring Essex County and Merrimack Valley communities, and from trades characteristic of the region, including cordwainers, shoemakers, blacksmiths, clerks, farmers, and laborers. Especially valuable are the later remarks entered against individual names, noting promotions, transfers, desertions, discharges for disability, death in hospital, and wartime casualties, including men “missing since June 27, 1862,” taken prisoner, or wounded during specific battles, such as soldiers who "died at Gaines Mille, Va. June 9th, 1862." 

An exceptional biographical account of the 22nd Massachusetts Volunteers, vividly documenting the lives of its soldiers.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs][Relics, Militaria]