The trip home. Reception at Worcester. The Social Whirl. We returned
to Annapolis.
We left Cincinnati on our way home to Massachusetts in the afternoon
of December 29th by train, going through Columbus, Cleveland, Buffalo,
Albany and Springfield, arriving in Worcester in the morning of January
31st, and marched over to Camp Lincoln, which was to be regimental
headquarters during our stay.
After we left Albany, as we passed along through the Berkshire
Hills, we realized we were in the old Bay State again and that it was
midwinter. The ground was buried deeply under the snow and the air was
cold. Wherever we stopped on our way east we were warmly received. At
Worcester the reception was enthusiastic. The 21st was the first three
years' regiment to re-enlist in the 9th Army Corps. It was the first
veteran regiment to return to Worcester County, and if not the first,
it was one of the first, to return to the state. The people of
Worcester appreciated this and turned out in large numbers to welcome
us home. At the railroad station the mayor and a committee of citizens
and a throng of people greeted us.
The official reception February 1st, was a most enthusiastic affair.
A parade containing every organization of any size in the city was
formed, with the mayor and city government at the head. We paraded the
streets of the city; Plunkett marching beside the colors. Then in the
afternoon there was a meeting in Mechanics Hall with speeches of
welcome, etc. Our furloughs were for thirty days and were dated
February 1st. The next day we were off for our homes and a glorious
vacation. I got as far as Barre the second, stayed all night at the
hotel, and the next morning hired a team and drove over to Dana. The
place looked natural and every one seemed happy. Riding about, visiting
friends, attending reunions, dancing parties and balls, was now the
order of the day and of the night. What a vacation! What a season of
pleasure! It was of its kind the most delightful time of my life.
Nehemiah Doubleday invited my sister Jane and I and a few other close
personal friends up to his house for an evening. They had music, served
refreshments, and we had a most delightful time. My sister, Mrs. Kent
did the same thing, and there we spent another very enjoyable evening.
The town of Hardwick gave an entertainment of welcome to the boys from
that town in our regiment. I had worked for Mr. Arad Walker of that
town and had a lot of friends over there, and so I was invited and
went, and had a most royal time. Such cordiality on the part of the
people. Such a warmth of welcome was entirely unexpected. Some one of
those Hardwick men had his arm around me all the evening. I never got
out of the sight of Mr. Walker while there. Every time I met Mr. John
Paige he would put both his arms around me and give me a hug. Rev. Mr.
Sanger could not have treated a son more cordially than he did me.
Every man I met there, and I met a lot of them, treated me as if I was
a son or a brother. As I went home that night I felt I was as much a
son of Hardwick in the war as I was of Dana.
When I enlisted and went out in 1861, I did it simply because I
could not stay at home. When I went back at the end of my veteran
furlough I felt I was one of the representatives at the front of a fine
section of Massachusetts. On March 1st, our thirty days' furlough was
at an end, and I returned to Worcester and to old Camp Lincoln again
ready for duty. I was not wanted, however, and was told I could go home
again and stay there until sent for, and home I went for another two
weeks of pleasure, but all good things come to an end, so did that
re-enlistment furlough, and the 14th I was summoned back to Worcester,
the 15th found me with the regiment and the 18th we started south
again.
On the way back at Philadelphia the 19th we were given a fine supper
at the Cooper Shop Saloon and the next morning at Baltimore we were
treated to a fine breakfast at the Union Relief Association rooms.
Proceeding on our way we arrived at Annapolis in the afternoon of March
25th. We went into camp and stayed there until we started to join the
Army of the Potomac at the Wilderness. After the fine times we had had
at home, ordinary camp life was decidedly dull. Troops were arriving
daily and we soon learned the 9th Army Corps was assembling there
preparatory to joining General Grant's army on the Rapidan. Every
fellow had left a girl behind him. Writing letters was freely indulged
in by all, and the mails were loaded with sweet-scented, delicately
addressed notes, and Oh, such longings for home.