Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Major Caspar Crowninshield,* June 20, 1863

Camp Brightwood, June 20, '63.

We are lying here anxiously expecting orders, — two squadrons are just back from over the river collecting stragglers from the Army of the Potomac. The First Massachusetts Cavalry had a severe fight at Aldie on Wednesday afternoon. Captain Sargent and Lieutenant Davis (not Henry) reported killed, — Major Higginson wounded in four places, not seriously, — Lieutenant Fillibrown wounded, — Jim Higginson captured, — loss killed, wounded, and missing, 160 out of 320, according to Major Higginson, who is at Alexandria, — but this is evidently a mistake.¹ The loss in prisoners is great, because Adams's squadron was dismounted and was supposed to be supported by the Fourth New York, which neglected to support at the proper moment and left our fellows unprotected.

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* Major Caspar Crowninsbield of Boston, noted in college for his great strength and rowing prowess in victories of Harvard over Yale, had done good service in the Twentieth Massachusetts Infantry. Thence he was commissioned Major of the Second Massachusetts Cavalry, took the field in command of the First Battalion, and continued in service throughout the war. After Colonel Russell's promotion to the Fifth Massachusetts Cavalry he became lieutenant-colonel, and, as such, commanded the regiment from the moment that Colonel Lowell commanded a brigade. After the colonel's death, he, for a time, commanded the Reserve Brigade.

¹ Major Higginson's wounds from shot and sabre proved so severe as to necessitate his resignation, after a long period of suffering. His brother was, as here reported, taken prisoner on the same field. Captain Lucius Manlius Sargent, left for dead on the field, recovered, and did active service until December, 1864, when he was killed in action at Bellfield, Virginia. Captain Adams, the son of our minister to England, has since become well known as a good citizen and author.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 262, 427

John M. Forbes to Governor John A. Andrew, November 4, 1861

Boston, November 4, 1861.

My Dear Sir, — I beg leave to second my son's application for a commission in the First Cavalry Regiment, and to say that nothing would induce me to seek so perilous an honor for him but a conviction that he is morally and physically well adapted to do good service to the good cause. Moreover, I know that he is actuated by the highest motives in seeking service: such motives as alone can reconcile parents to offering their sons!

I do not seek for him any specified position, but only ask that he should have a chance, before he is fixed in the lowest grade, to show whether he is fit for anything higher; in short, that he shall be judged by what he can do, rather than by his age, which is only just past twenty-one.

Very truly yours,

John M. Forbes.

SOURCE: Sarah Forbes Hughes, Letters and Recollections of John Murray Forbes, Volume 1, p. 258

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Josephine Shaw, June 1, 1863

Camp Brightwood, June I, 1863.

I am cross; — “rumpled and harassed” don't begin to express my condition. I feel as if I were playing soldier here, and that I always disliked in peace, and disliked still more in war, — and now I'm doing it.

Now for narrative. Our move to-day was tolerably satisfactory, no end of “bag and baggage,” certainly ten or twelve times as much as there should have been; but we broke up a permanent camp, and reestablished it, and had plenty of daylight to spare. We are now near Fort Stevens, about four miles north of Washington, on rough ground thickly studded with oak stumps; not so pretty a site as our last, but much healthier; we do not present so attractive an outside to visitors, but in reality are probably better off. I have two companies and a half on picket at points fifteen miles apart, and am expecting some night alarms, knowing it to be all play and got up for drill purposes. I would much prefer to drill my men for the present in my own way, not in General Heintzelman's way, hence I am cross, — it is very unmilitary to be cross.

I foresee that this camp is going to be a very cross place, — rough camps always are, — they are so hard to keep clean. It is astonishing how much easier it is to make men do their military duty than it is to make them appreciate neatness and cleanness.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 251-2

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Lieutenant-Colonel Henry S. Russell, May 30, 1863

Camp, May 30, '63.

As soon as you are filled to a minimum, shut down on all but first-rate men. I do not want another  “scalawag” to come into the regiment; they will fight, but they are an infernal nuisance.

I was yesterday required to report officially how soon this Battalion could take the field. I reported two hours, — but better not before June 20th. I do not think they mean to move us, but they are in constant dread of a rapid move towards the upper Potomac; apparently one whole cavalry division of the Army of the Potomac moved to Bealetown (below Warrenton Junction) on Thursday.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 250-1

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Josephine Shaw, May 29, 1863 – 11 P.M.

Camp, May 29, 1863, 11 p. M.

Your Capri and Sorrento have brought back my Campagna and my Jungfrau and my Paestum, and again the season is “la gioventù dell anno,” and I think of breezy Veii and sunny Pisa and the stone-pines of the villa Pamfili-Doria, — of course, it is right to wish that sometime we may go there; of course, the remembrance of such places, and the hope of 'visiting them in still pleasanter circumstances, makes one take “the all in the day's work” more bravely — it is a homesickness which is healthy for the soul. I should not have criticised your wishing that, but I did feel a little superstitious about the way in which you thought of going: I don't believe you wish there was no “harness,” nor yet to be out of harness, by reason of a break-down: collars are our proper “wear,” I am afraid, and we ought to enjoy going well up to them ; but when the time for a free scamper comes, huzza for Italy!

I am sorry that my Stanton summons frightened you, and yet I am again going to startle you by saying that to-day I was directed by General Casey to report at once how much notice I required to take the field. I replied two hours, officially: this does not mean anything: I relate it because a succession of these false alarms makes the real start a relief when it comes. I have seen how it works with men and officers, — it is human nature.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 249-50

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to John C. Bancroft, May 24, 1863

Camp Near Washington, May 24, '63.

We have been ten pleasant, sultry, summer days in camp here, monotonous, but enough occupied not to dislike the monotony, — dry and cool and dewy in the morning, and still and cool in the evenings, — with a very pretty view from my tent front (where we sit under a fly) — nothing striking, only green hills and fields and cattle, and off on the right the Potomac, and beyond rise the heights, where they have put forts, — you would not suppose it, however, it looks as peaceful as a Sunday should. It makes me infernally homesick, John, — I should like to be at home, even to go to church, — nay, I should even like to have a chaplain here to read the service and a few chapters I would select from the New Testament, — you’ll think it must be a peaceful scene to lull me into such a lamblike mood.¹

Lamblike, however, seems to be the order of the day, — unless, indeed, Grant's success at Vicksburg is to be believed. The Army of the Potomac is commonly reported to be going into summer quarters.

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¹ Soon after, Rev. Charles A. Humphreys was appointed Chaplain of the Second Cavalry, and joined the regiment in Virginia. He was cordially received and treated with consideration by Colonel Lowell, and remained with the regiment until the close of the war, except during some months in the summer and autumn of 1864, when he was in a Southern prison with Major Forbes and Lieutenant Amory, all having been captured in a disastrous fight at Zion's Church. Mr. Humphreys held his Colonel in the highest esteem. He wrote an article about him, in the Harvard Monthly, in February, 1886, to which I am indebted. It was through Chaplain Humphreys' instrumentality that the marble bust of Colonel Lowell., which adorns the Memorial Hall, at Cambridge, was made by the sculptor Daniel Chester French, — a gift of the officers and friends of the regiment.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 247, 418

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Josephine Shaw, Sunday, May 24, 1863 – 6:30 p.m.

Sunday, 24th May, 6.30 P. M.

I have probably quoted twenty times that motto of one of the Fathers, — “In necessariis, unitas; in non-necessariis, libertas; in omnibus, caritas” — “In essentials, unity; — in non-essentials, freedom; in all things, love.” I like it, — it is more for opinions than for actions or habits, but it is good to bear in mind in society and in affairs, and I think that, written over every young fireside and read by the light of real love, it would smooth many differences.

Sometime this summer at your open window, you should read the “Seven Lamps of Architecture,” — they are lamps to live by as well as to build by.

About the Regiment, — did I tell you I had a regimental drill on Friday P. M. and another at 7½ this morning, really very successful? I should wish you here to see one, only to the outsider there is little visible but a cloud of dust. The men are getting on so well in squadron drill that to-morrow I shall commence with the “individual drill” for the morning, squadron drill three afternoons, and regimental drill two afternoons and Sunday morning. The training of the horse, and the teaching of the trooper to ride, you see, which ought to come first, come last in our method of raising cavalry regiments, — we must do the best we can, however. That expression brings me to my visit to Stanton. He commenced by asking after the regiment, and why I had not been to see him, — told me that he expected a great deal from it; that he would do anything and everything I wanted to make it an “Ironsides” regiment (I do not know what that means, but I told him I would do all I could to make it a good regiment). He said he knew it (sic), and added that he was away from Washington when that affair in Boston occurred, or he should have written me a personal letter of thanks.¹ I spoke of bringing up my companies from Gloucester Point, — he said it should be done, that I should drill them here, should have all my requisitions filled by preference, and when I said I was ready, he would send the regiment where it should meet the enemy, and would give it the post of honour (I quote his exact words, — it remains to be seen whether he will be able to act up to them, — of course I told him that was all I wanted). When I got up to go, I happened to mention the Fifty-Fourth, and stopped a few minutes to tell him what a success it had been. He seemed very much pleased, and said he did not know why Governor Andrew preferred Port Royal to Newberne; but if the Governor thought that was the best field for them, he wanted to give them the best chance, and had ordered them there accordingly. I tell you of this visit for your benefit, so far as it relates to Rob; for my benefit, so far as it relates to me.

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¹ Edwin M. Stanton, the vigorous and patriotic Secretary of War, had probably met Lowell, when he came, sent by General McClellan, to present to the President the sheaf of Rebel battle-flags captured at Antietam. He had heard from Governor Andrew and Mr. Forbes of Lowell's prompt quelling of the mutiny of the bounty-jumpers in Boston, as well as of the daring and intelligence shown in the conduct of his squadron of United States Cavalry in the Peninsula

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 244-6

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Sturgis Russell*, May 16, 1863

Camp E. Of Capitol, Washington, D. C.

May 16, '63.

Started precisely at 12 M. Tuesday (427 men and officers, 437 horses), reached boat at 5 P. M. (start earlier and feed on pier): boat too small for so many horses, delay in loading, finally started from wharf at ½ A. M. Wednesday — reached Jersey City at 9 A. M. — terrible confusion watering and loading horses, did not leave by train till 5 P. M.: lost ten men here: had to handle all our own baggage here, as also the night before at Stonington. Reached Camden (opposite Philadelphia) at 1 A. M., Thursday; waited two hours while R. R. men handled baggage and transshipped horses, crossed to Philadelphia by ferry, got an excellent breakfast at the Volunteer Relief Rooms;¹ left by train at 6 A. M., arrangements excellent. Reached Baltimore at 3 P. M., horses and baggage dragged through city without transshipment; gave men coffee and dinner at Union Relief Rooms (164 Eutaw St., close to Depot). Left Baltimore at 5 P. M. and, after much delay, arrived in Washington at 2 A. M. Friday — breakfast ready for men at barracks near Depot; immediately-after, commenced unloading horses and traps, and at 9 A. M. had horses fed and watered and on picket lines (saddles, &c, by them and company and Quartermaster property in wagons); at 12 M. started for camp, which I selected, and before 6 P. M. officers and men were all in tents, and horses all at permanent lines, — total loss 11 deserters and 1 dead horse,—gain 6 horses! On the whole I recommend this route highly.

I had a very strong guard detailed (70 men and officers) and kept it on duty for the trip — every door (to cars and yards) was guarded before the command entered.

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* Captain Henry S. Russell, of the Second Massachusetts Infantry, had been detailed to help in preparing for the field the Second Cavalry, of which he was to be second in command. He had been left behind to secure and forward recruits to the regiment. I copy the following from Mr. John M. Forbes's Reminiscences: “Harry had distinguished himself in the Second Infantry, under Gordon, as a good soldier, reaching the rank of captain, and then had suffered himself to be captured at the battle of Cedar Mountain, under Banks, where he stood by his mortally wounded friend James Savage, and passed some months in prison.  . . . He left the Second Massachusetts Cavalry, where he was lieutenant-colonel, to recruit the Fifth (coloured) Cavalry, as colonel. This regiment got its first impetus from a telegram which I received one day, when on a visit to Washington, from Governor Andrew, directing me to see Secretary Stanton, and apply for leave to recruit a regiment of coloured cavalry. It was a time when recruiting was beginning to flag, and, taking the message in my pocket, I soon got access to the Secretary, with whom I was always on good terms, and within five minutes of showing the message leave was given to go ahead; and Harry gave up his easier place of lieutenant-colonel in a splendid white regiment to build up the Fifth Massachusetts Cavalry (coloured), which, however, was destined to do most of its work unmounted.” Colonel Russell was wounded, but survived the war. A man of courage and decision, and with a natural dignity and military habit in dealing with men, he was singularly kind and modest. He served the city of Boston to much purpose and with honourable fidelity, first as Commissioner of Police, and later of the Fire Department, for many years.

¹ The bounteous hospitality extended to all regiments and soldiers passing through this city, by the Philadelphia Volunteer Relief Association during the war, is held in grateful remembrance.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 239-40, 416-7

Colonel Charles Russell Lowell to Josephine Shaw, May 15, 1863

Camp East Of Capitol, May 15, 1863.

I date this May 15, 1863, — ought it to be 1864? — it seems to me a month since “this morning and at least a year since Tuesday noon. The other part of my date carries me back a year, — for “Camp East of Capitol” was the familiar name of the barracks where my military young idea was taught to shoot.

I wish you could look in at tea now, and see what a pretty scene our camp presents. You would be sitting on the grass at the edge of a very pretty orchard, in which (behind you) Ruksh and Nig are quietly feeding, — in front the ground slopes gently off and at fifty yards' distance commence the company lines, — from here you look down into these so entirely that not a man can swear or a horse switch his tail in anger without our knowing it. The tents are in three rows, the two companies of a squadron being on a line, the horses of each squadron to the right of the tents, — stable duty is just over and the men are swarming about before getting supper. I may have forgotten how a camp-fire smokes, or it may be I am partial to the fires of my own camp (you know my weakness); certainly these camp-fires look uncommonly blue — and picturesque, — even Will's¹ fellows have contrived to get up a jolly blue smoke.

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¹ Major William H. Forbes commanded a Massachusetts battalion, Major D. W. C. Thompson the California Battalion, which had only landed in New York on April 14 and had, consequently, been but a month in camp at Readville. This was of less importance, as the Californians were all good riders, and had probably had some elementary instruction in military duties and drill before sailing. The First Battalion, under Major Caspar Crowninshield, already serving in the Peninsula, contained the "California Hundred," under Captain J. Sewall Reed, and several Massachusetts companies. These components of the regiment became thoroughly welded by the active service in the Valley, but at first the state line was sharply drawn by the soldiers. Lieutenant S. W. Backus, in his reminiscences of the regiment, wrote: —

“While we were comparatively recruits, marching past other troops, whenever the question was asked, ‘What regiment is that?’ the answer would come from one part of the line ‘California Hundred,’ from another  ‘California Battalion,’ and from still another, ‘Second Massachusetts Cavalry.’ No wonder the questioners were often puzzled to know who we really were. We soon, however, overcame this folly, and to say we belonged to the Second Massachusetts Cavalry was honour enough in our minds.”  But the Lieutenant adds, with amusing recurrence to the first thought: —

"We, however, indulged ourselves in the thought that the Californians really did constitute the regiment, and with this idea we felt satisfied that we would not completely lose our identity."

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 237-8

Captain Charles Russell Lowell to Henry Lee Higginson, February 15, 1863

Readville, Feb. 15, '63.

My Dear Henry, — I wrote you last a most “quaintly moral” letter.  . . . I think public opinion here is getting stouter, more efforts are making to educate the great unthinking. Good editorials are reprinted and circulated gratis.¹ A club is now forming in Boston, a Union Club, to support the Government, irrespective of party, started by Ward, Forbes, Norton, Amos Lawrence, etc., etc. This seems to me a very promising scheme. Clubs have in all trying times been great levers for moving events along. A similar club has already been started in Philadelphia under equally good auspices.

Our black regiment is likely to provoke discussion also, and in that way, if no other, to do good. Bob Shaw comes as Colonel, to arrive to-morrow, and Pen Hallowell as Lieutenant-Colonel (been here some days).² I have no idea that they can get a full regiment in New England, but think they can get enough intelligent fellows here to make a cadre for one or more regiments to be raised down South. I do not know how much you may have thought upon the subject, and I may send you a few slips to show you how we feel. I am very much interested without being at all sanguine. I think it very good of Shaw (who is not at all a fanatic) to undertake the thing. The Governor will select, or let Shaw select, the best white officers he can find, letting it be understood that black men may be commissioned as soon as any are found who are superior to white officers who offer. The recruiting will be in good hands. In the Committee of consultation are Forbes and Lawrence;² in New York, Frank Shaw; in Philadelphia, Hallowell's brother. You see this is likely to be a success, if any black regiment can be a success. If it fails, we shall all feel that tout notre possible has been done. If it fails, it will at least sink from under our feet the lurking notion that we need not be in a hurry about doing our prettiest, because we can always fall back upon the slaves, if the worst comes to the worst. You remember last September, upon somewhat the same ground, we agreed in approving the Proclamation, however ill-timed and idle it seemed to us. We shall knuckle down to our work the sooner for it. My first battalion (five companies, 325 strong) leave on Thursday for Fort Monroe. The battalion from California will be here in March. We have only about 175 more men to get here to reach a minimum. Now that Stoneman is Chief of Cavalry, I think I can get where I want to, so you can see me before the end of the summer.

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¹ The New England Loyal Publication Society had this origin: —

Mr. John M. Forbes kept an eye on the newspapers or other publications, irrespective of party, for any strong and sensible paragraph, speech, or article advocating a vigorous prosecution of the war. In the midst of all his important public and private works, he had these copied and multiplied and sent, at his expense, all over the country, especially to local newspapers. When the work became too serious an undertaking for one man, he formed the society, which became an important and efficient agency, during the last three years of the war, for the spreading of sound doctrines in politics and finance. Party and personal issues were excluded. Mr. Charles Eliot Norton took charge of the work as editor, and James B. Thayer, Esq., was the secretary. The Executive Committee were J. M. Forbes, President; William Endicott, Treasurer; C. E. Norton, J. B. Thayer, Edward Atkinson, Martin Brimmer, Rev. E. E. Hale, Henry B. Rogers, Professor W. B. Rogers, Samuel G. Ward.

² Readville, near Boston, was then the principal camp of assembly and instruction, and the Second Massachusetts Cavalry and the Fifty-Fourth Infantry were camped side by side. The latter was the first coloured regiment that went to the war from New England. It was regarded as a dangerous and doubtful experiment, — by some persons as a wicked one. Part of the men were obtained in Massachusetts, but a great number of them from Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, by the energy and patriotism of Major George L. Stearns. Braving much hostile public opinion and ridicule, the field officers of the regiment, and many of the line, left white regiments to make the Fifty-Fourth a success.

The Colonel, Robert Gould Shaw, had served with credit in the Second Massachusetts Infantry; the Lieutenant-Colonel, Norwood Penrose Hallowell, a gallant fighter of Quaker stock, had already served in the Twentieth regiment, and later became Colonel of the Fifty-Fifth, while his brother Edward succeeded him as Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifty-Fourth.

Major Higginson in his address, at the dedication of the Soldiers' Field, said of Robert Shaw: —

“I first saw him one evening in our first camp at Brook Farm — a beautiful, sunny-haired, blue-eyed boy, gay and droll and winning in his ways. In those early days of camp life, we fellows were a bit homesick, and longed for the company of girls . . . and I fell in love with this boy, and have not fallen out yet. He was of a very simple and manly nature — steadfast and affectionate, human to the last degree, without much ambition, except to do his plain duty. You should have seen Robert Shaw as he, with his chosen officers, led away from Boston his black men of the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts amid the cheers of his townsmen. Presently he took them up to the assault of Fort Wagner, and was buried with them there in the trench.”

³ Of the summer of 1862, Mr. Forbes wrote in his notes: —

“In that summer I had the satisfaction of getting up the Committee of a Hundred for promoting the use of blacks as soldiers, and acted as chairman of it.

“We raised, I think, about $100,000 by subscription among the most conservative Republicans.  . . . I was able to do something towards the choice of the right officers, as well as in raising the men.”

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 234-6, 414-5

Captain Charles Russell Lowell to Anna Jackson Lowell, February 1, 1863

Boston,¹ Feb. 4, 1863.

I am very glad to see that the Negro Army Bill has got so well through the House, — Governor Andrew is going to try a Regiment in Massachusetts. I am afraid he is too sanguine — it would be wiser to start with a smaller number, to be increased to a regiment in South Carolina, Texas, or Louisiana. The blacks here are too comfortable to do anything more than talk about freedom. I hope you are not too comfortable; comfort is so “demoralizing.”

¹ Relative positions were now reversed, as Captain Lowell had been detailed to raise and drill the Second Massachusetts Cavalry, and his mother had been summoned to Washington, to the bedside of her daughter Anna, a nurse in Armory Square Military Hospital, who had fallen ill.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 233-4, 413

Captain Charles Russell Lowell to John M. Forbes, October 30, 1862

Berlin, Maryland, Oct. 30, 1862.

My Dear Mr. Forbes, — I hardly know what to say to your plan: if the question were simply, Will you take the Colonelcy of the Second Massachusetts Cavalry, a regiment to be raised on same terms and in same way as the First Massachusetts? — I should have no hesitation in saying yes: but Mr. Lawrence's offer I hardly see my way clear to accept.

1st. The Battalion, as an independent organization, is not recognized by the War Department: if I get permission to take command of such an organization, it can be only through improper influence and in defiance of General Orders, and I do not care to attempt it: — leave of absence to take command of a regiment is authorized, and I should not hesitate to apply for it. 2d. I have always thought I was more useful on General McClellan's staff than I should be serving with my own regiment¹ — but with my own regiment as captain, I should now almost always have command of a battalion: were I then to accept Mr. Lawrence's offer, I should merely be exchanging active service for at least a temporary inaction, for the sake of getting rank and pay of Major. I want to keep my military record clearer than that. 3d. [A Boston gentleman] speaks of Mr. L.'s battalion as “a battalion for home use — i. e. in the militia.” Does he really mean for home use when we are so short of cavalry in this Army — or does he merely mean that it is composed of nine months' men? My honest opinion is, that it is an injustice to the Government to raise any cavalry for so short a period; still, if it is decided to do so, that would not make me decline a command. Two months' drill and two months in the field under a good commanding officer will make a regiment of some account — but I would not take any command which was meant for home use. 4th. Mr. L. has the principal voice in naming officers — would any influence afterwards be used to keep in position officers proved incompetent, and for whose removal all proper military steps had been taken ? ²

You will see from the above that while I should like very much to take command of a Second Massachusetts Cavalry, — I am unwilling to say “yes” to the present offer, unless (or until) the affair assumes such shape that the Governor can ask for me, from the War Department, leave of absence to take command of a regiment.

I have been very much obliged to you for several letters, but I have never answered your questions. Only, if General McClellan silently shoulders all the errors of his subordinate generals, is it not fair to give him credit for their successes? I have never been more annoyed than, when in Washington a month ago, to see the avidity with which people gathered up and believed Hooker's criticisms on the General. I did not care to open my lips against them: personally I like Hooker very much, but I fear he will do us a mischief if he ever gets a large command. He has got his head in the clouds.

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¹ This was but eight days before General McClellan was removed from the command of the Army of the Potomac.

² Mr. Amos A. Lawrence, whose name has been given to a city where he promoted successful manufacturing interests, was not only a leading citizen of Boston, but brave, generous, and active in measures tending to resist the encroachments of the slave power before the war, and, when the strife began, in efforts to carry it on to a righteous and successful end. He was associated with Mr. Forbes in founding the Union Club in Boston, the Loyal Publication Society, and especially in the business of recruiting soldiers for the Volunteer Regiments of Massachusetts, as wisely and economically as possible, at a time when it was exceedingly hard to secure men. This difficulty it was which probably gave rise to the proposition to raise a battalion instead of a regiment. Colonel Lowell's other Boston correspondent must have misunderstood the proposition, for it certainly was not proposed to raise “home-guard” cavalry.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 229-31, 412

Charles Russell Lowell to Anna C. Jackson Lowell, June 9, 1861

Washington, June 9, '61.

Banks leaves here to-night for Baltimore and has promised to write in a day or two if I can be of use to him. Until I get my commission, he thinks of putting me at Baltimore as Censor over the telegraphic communications — a sug            gestion of Mr. Forbes. I believe I can be of use there.

Thanks to Wilson and Sumner, I am down for a Captaincy of Cavalry. There may be a slip, but the thing is as sure as anything of that sort can be made in Washington. When I shall get the commission signed I cannot guess.

If I get sick or wounded at any time, I promise to have Anna out at once to nurse me — she is a good little girl.¹

I am glad Father is pleased with my military prospects — I wish I knew as much about the business as he does, or even Jim must. A more ignorant Captain could scarcely be found. I suppose you scarcely fancy the life — though like a good Mother you don't say so.

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¹ Miss Anna Lowell, his younger sister, became an army nurse in the hospitals at Washington, and devoted herself to this service throughout the war.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 211-2, 403

Charles Russell Lowell to Charles E. Perkins, June 7, 1861

Washington, June 7, '61.

I am down for a Captaincy of Cavalry and have good hopes of being put upon N. P. Banks's staff: but I cannot say I take any great pleasure in the contemplation of the future. I fancy you feel much as I do about the profitableness of a soldier's life, and would not think of trying it, were it not for a muddled and twisted idea that somehow or other this fight was going to be one in which decent men ought to engage for the sake of humanity, — I use the word in its ordinary sense. It seems to me that within a year the Slavery question will again take a prominent place, and that many cases will arise where we may get fearfully in the wrong if we put our cause wholly in the hands of fighting men and Foreign Legions.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 210-1

Diary of Josephine Shaw Lowell: September 8, 1861

Cousin John¹ read a sermon. Lilly Ward and I swam across Mary's Lake, with the occasional aid of Will Forbes² in a boat. Tried shooting at a mark for the first time in my life. Hit the target five times out of six at 100 yards. Took a long walk and ended the day by a row in the harbor. Two boats raced. We beat.

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¹ John M. Forbes, a Boston merchant doing business with the East, and a great helper of the Union cause in Massachusetts.

² Son of John M. Forbes, and afterward Lieutenant Colonel of the 2d Mass. Cavalry of which Charles Russell Lowell was Colonel.

SOURCE: William Rhinelander Stewart, The Philanthropic Work of Josephine Shaw Lowell, p. 19