Diary of Colonel William F. Bartlett, May 5, 1864

To Germanna Ford. Cross Rap. We shall fight to-morrow. I hope I may get through, but hardly expect it. His will be done.

SOURCE: Francis Winthrop Palfrey, Memoir of William Francis Bartlett, p. 99

Colonel William F. Bartlett, May 3, 1864

Rappahannock Station, Va., May 3, 1864.

We move to-morrow morning with the grand army of the Potomac. I have been here three days, and not found time to go over to the Twentieth, only five miles distant. My regiment is in no condition to take into action, but I must do the best I can. It will be a long and hard fight. God, I hope, will give us the victory. The chances I think are even. Grant, I fear, does not appreciate Lee's ability, nor the qualities of his army. Let us hope for the best . . . .  I am very well Give me twenty days and I could make a splendid regiment of this, but man proposes and Grant disposes. Good-by.

Ever faithfully yours.

Frank.

SOURCE: Francis Winthrop Palfrey, Memoir of William Francis Bartlett, p. 99

Governor John A. Andrew to Colonel William F. Bartlett, April 14, 1864

I commit these banners to you as an officer, as a citizen of Massachusetts, and as a personal friend — an officer firm and loyal, a citizen faithful and patriotic, a friend in whom there is no guile — with a satisfaction no words can express. And whatever fate may be before you, I know that neither on the white stripes of the one flag nor the white field of the other will there ever fall the slightest dishonor.

SOURCE: Francis Winthrop Palfrey, Memoir of William Francis Bartlett, p. 96-7

Colonel William F. Bartlett to Governor John A. Andrew, April 14, 1864

Your Excellency, — I hope, sir, we shall do the flag more credit in action, than we can do ourselves in speech.

My Men! This flag, which is the standard of our own Massachusetts, and this which we have been taught to look upon as the sacred emblem of our nation, have today been formally entrusted to our keeping, to carry and defend, by the Governor of our State. Can I say to him for you, that you will try to do honor to this trust? That you will carry it and defend it, whenever and wherever duty calls; that you will never desert, disown, or disgrace it; that you will swear by it, pray for it, live for it, and if need be, die for it; and that you will devote yourselves to its service until it shall be feared and respected throughout the recreant South, as it is loved and cherished by the loyal North?

Ever since that flag was insulted by traitors in Charleston harbor, it has had a warmer place in the heart of every loyal man. When her high-toned orators threatened the South's rebellion and secession, we endured a great deal of personal insult and abuse, calmly and silently. But when, viper-like, she turned and fired upon that flag which had shielded and protected her, she struck a blow which blood alone can atone for. She made a blot on the page of our national history which we are in arms to-day to wipe out. As it went slowly and sullenly down on those battered walls, it went up like magic on every hill-top and tower, on every steeple and staff throughout the North; and nearer and dearer to us than anything else on earth, and reverenced next to our religion, is that old flag still.

There are those at the South who, still true to their country, are waiting silently and patiently till they see the gleam of its folds again — a token of the return of good government, the overthrow of despotism and rebellion; and there are those, too, who wait hopefully, prayerfully, for its coming, for they know that now and hereafter, wherever that flag floats, all men are free.

SOURCE: Francis Winthrop Palfrey, Memoir of William Francis Bartlett, p. 97-8

Diary of Colonel William F. Bartlett, March 31, 1864

——¹ came back last night. He is going to resign, I am sorry to say. His wife has persuaded him. It is the weakest thing I ever saw in him. I lose faith in man's firmness and woman's fortitude.

_______________

¹ One of his most valued officers.

SOURCE: Francis Winthrop Palfrey, Memoir of William Francis Bartlett, p. 96

Speech of Colonel William F. Bartlett, March 17, 1864

Mr. Chairman And Fellow Citizens, — I could wish that it had been your fortune to present this testimonial to one who would have done more justice to it in words more befitting the occasion and the gift. Had I your own command of language I could hardly do justice to it. If in the performance of my duties as a soldier I have met your approbation, I am truly grateful for it. The consciousness of duty performed is in itself a sufficient reward, but to this to-day is added the knowledge of the approval and applause of others, and the assurance that those at home appreciate our sacrifices, and that it is to keep a desolating war from their hearthstones that we take the field. You in this quiet Northern town know little of the misery of war, and the desolation that follows in the track of an army. If some fine day you should see an army file into your fields, and destroy your growing harvests, and dig a rifle pit in your garden, or cut down your choicest trees because they obstructed the view, you would see that the misery that the South is now suffering is but the just reward of her treachery and rebellion. His Excellency has just assured me of his confidence by placing under my command another Massachusetts regiment. The last one I had the honor to command was enlisted for only nine months, but served nearly twelve, and I believe during that term had its full share of danger, and I never knew of its disgracing the service or the State. Massachusetts soldiers never do. The regiment I now command will serve three years, and it is proposed to end the war in a much shorter time; but if we should be needed for three times three years, we have enlisted for the war. I see around me here the names of places which I cannot soon forget — places where I have known the saddest and the proudest moments of my life. I see the tattered flags of the brave old Twentieth, under which my earliest duties as a soldier were done on the field of battle. If the names of all the gallant men who have fought and fallen around you in your defense could be inscribed in characters of gold within your folds, it would be a fitting tribute of their devotion to the cause of which you are to us the hallowed symbol. You at home hope that this war will soon be over, and we hope so too, but we will have no peace but an honorable one. If we would have a lasting peace, we must realize that our honor, our safety, our very existence as a nation, depend upon our self-sacrifice and our valor. You must put forth every exertion, you must give every dollar, and if need be send every man, until we can win a victorious peace. I go to the field in a few weeks and shall carry this beautiful gift. I shall bring it back, if I come, bruised and disfigured perhaps, but with no stain of dishonor. For it, and for this flattering ovation, for the presence here of so many friends, and among them one whom the State and country loves and honors — for this day never to be forgotten by me, I thank you.

SOURCE: Francis Winthrop Palfrey, Memoir of William Francis Bartlett, p. 94-6