Several days after the fall of Fort Sumter, a mass meeting was held in Temperance Hall which opened with a dramatic presentation of the American flag.
[5][4][2] Each soldier was a uniform of gray cloth with blue pipings and an old smooth bore rifle, which was borrowed from the neighboring community of Canton.
Ebenezer Paul[b] was exploring his vast acreage in the part of town one day when he discovered several men sitting under one of his long line of elms.
[5] Two months later, on August 23, they were shipped out to the front lines near Washington, D.C.[8][4] Nine men enlisted in Company H.[4] They were led by Captain Henry Onion, a West Point graduate.
[9] Three Dedham men, Sergeant Damrell and Privates Guild and Stevens, died that winter; their remains were brought home for burial.
[9] They missed the battle at Hanover Court House on May 27 by being ordered to rest after picket duty during a driving rain storm in the preceding night.
[10] On the day previous to the battle at Gaines Mills, June 27, the 18th was ordered to join an expedition under Gen Stoneman fitted out to repel an anticipated attack upon the right flank of the army by the enemy under Stonewall Jackson.
[11] They marched towards White House on the Pamunkey and, passing down the York and up the James by transports, they rejoined the army at Harrison's Landing after the battles of the Chickahominy and Malvern Hill.
[13][d] While retiring from the field and bringing up the rear of the regiment, he was struck by a ball near the shoulder blade which probably penetrated the spinal column as he was rendered helpless and, in the confusion of retreat, was left behind.
[18] Burnside's Corps started first and on September 14, only three weeks after they had left their homes, the Dedham soldiers met the enemy at South Mountain.
[19] The short term of service was a great inducement for some who were unable to enlist for three years and soon the requisite number was made up almost exclusively from Dedham.
[19] These chiefly constituted Company D of the 43rd Regiment Massachusetts Infantry which, on October 24, 1862, was ordered to North Carolina where it remained during nearly the whole term of its service.
[20] On July 7, the term of service having expired, it was left to the option of the men to go to the front, this being immediately after the battle of Gettysburg, or to return home.
[22] Here the 35th had the honor of being the first regiment to plant its colors within the city, pulling down the rebel ensign from the State House and of throwing to the breeze from that abode of treason the stars and stripes.
[24] President Andrew Johnson nominated Thomas Sherwin for the award of the honorary grade of brevet brigadier general, United States Volunteers, for distinguished gallantry at the Battle of Gettysburg and for gallant and meritorious services during the war.
[29] On May 23, at the Battle of North Anna, Sergeant John Finn Jr. of the 22nd Massachusetts Infantry received a wound on his arm which rendered amputation necessary; he died from its effects on June 5.
[30] Dedham's Private Albert C. Bean of the 20th Massachusetts Infantry's Company I was wounded on June 3 while holding the left of the assaulting column.
[31] At Poplar Spring Church on September 30, John W. Fiske, formerly a Sergeant in Company I but recently promoted to be first lieutenant in the 58th Massachusetts Infantry, was killed and buried on the field.
[35] The Town desired to give them a public welcome home, but they declined the honor, saying they preferred to pass without ceremony from the life of the soldier to that of the citizen.
[37] On May 18, 1863, Governor John Albion Andrew presented the regiment with their colors in front of Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and more than a thousand others on the parade grounds at Camp Meigs.
[1] The following day, April 23, 1861, they sent the balance to Governor John Albion Andrew with the following note: Dear Sir,- The Ladies of Dedham have the satisfaction of sending you sixty flannel shirts for the troops who are about going South in the defence of our country and the support of her government.
We send these garments with our blessing and our prayers with a tender sympathy and an earnest God speed to the true hearted patriots who are ready to sacrifice so much in a noble cause.
More than three hundred dollars worth of material has already been made into garments by the ladies most of which will be applied to the use of the volunteers from this town and this noble work of good women has by no means ceased.
[9] A New Years Dinner, consisting of 30 turkeys, 100 pounds of plum pudding, 100 mince pies, and a variety of other victuals were shipped to the Dedham Company by train.
[46][44][47] After the war, he donated a choice plot of land upon a hill and a monument to their sacrifice in Brookdale Cemetery to the local Grand Army of the Republic chapter.
[3] A number of other similar votes would take place in the coming years such that the Town would spend a total of $136,090.81 on outfitting the troops, supporting the families, and providing bonuses for soldiers who enlisted.
[49] These moneys were raised by annual assessments, donations from individuals, the sale of some articles left from the Dedham table at the Sanitary Fair in Boston, collections taken in the various religious societies, concerts, amateur theatrical entertainments, tableaux lectures, etc.
[43] During the first year, the supplies were sent in various directions to the Sanitary Commission, the Union Aid Society at St. Louis, the NEWAA in Boston, to ladies in Philadelphia, to Cavalry Regiment at Readville, to the hospital at Alexandria, Virginia, to Forts Warren and Independence, and on Sunday August 31, 1862, the inhabitants of Dedham united in sending fifteen boxes to Washington.
[36] In 1865, the first notice of Abraham Lincoln's death was posted on a buttonwood tree in front of the home of Jeremiah Shuttleworth, today the location of the Dedham Historical Society.
"[41] After the war, Eliphalet Stone donated a choice plot of land upon a hill and a monument to the sacrifice of Union soldiers to the local Grand Army of the Republic chapter at Brookdale Cemetery.