Henry Livermore AbbottHenry Livermore Abbott should not be confused with Colonel and Brevet Brigadier General Henry Larcom Abbot (January 21, 1842 – May 6, 1864) was a Major in the Union Army during the American Civil War (Civil War).Eicher, John H. and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, p. 97. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, 2001. Abbott was posthumously awarded the grade of brevet brigadier general, United States Volunteers, to rank from August 1, 1864, and the grades of brevet lieutenant colonel, brevet colonel and brevet brigadier general, United States Army, all to rank from March 13, 1865Eicher and Eicher, 2001, p. 97 for gallant and meritorious services at the Battle of the Wilderness, where he was killed in action.Hunt, Roger D. and Brown, Jack R., Brevet Brigadier Generals in Blue p. 1. Olde Soldier Books, Inc., Gaithersburg, MD, 1990. ; Eicher and Eicher, 2001, p. 97 Abbott was engaged at the center of several key Civil War battles and was widely known and admired for his leadership, courage and composure under fire.Scott, Robert Garth, ed., Abbott, Henry Livermore, Fallen Leaves: The Civil War Letters of Major Henry Livermore Abbott, ed. by Robert Garth Scott. Kent Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1991. ; introduction by Robert Garth Scott, p. 1
Early life Henry Livermore Abbott, the third of eleven children, was born in Lowell, Massachusetts on January 21, 1842,Heidler, David S. and Heidler, Jeanne T., eds., Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social and Military History. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 10110, 2000. . Combines into one volume the original 5 volume work published by ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, California in 2000. Article on Henry Livermore Abbott, pp. 2–3 the son of Josiah Gardner Abbott, a successful lawyer and judge.Scott, ed., 1991. p. 1; Heidler and Heidler, 2000, p. 1 In 1876, Josiah Gardner Abbott was elected to the United States House of Representatives. He was a prominent member of the Democratic Party.Scott, ed., 1991. p. 1 Henry's mother, Caroline, was the daughter of U.S. Congressman Edward St. Loe Livermore.Scott, ed., 1991. p. 1 Both of Henry's parents were descended from officers who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.Scott, ed., 1991. p. 2
Henry was a prodigy and in 1856 he enrolled in Harvard University at age 14 with his older brother Edward ("Ned").Heidler and Heidler, 2000, p. 1 The brothers roomed together at a fashionable private boarding house near campus. The young Henry found the rigid atmosphere at Harvard "irksome" and was frequently admonished for "indecorum at prayers," "neglect of mathematics," and "tardiness at recitation." Nonetheless, Henry graduated from Harvard in the middle of the class in 1860.Heidler and Heidler, 2000, p. 1; Scott, ed., 1991, p. 2 He was reading law in his father's law office when the Civil War broke out.
Initial reluctance to volunteer and enrollment in Union Army Henry's father obtained an appointment for Henry as a captain in the 2d Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment after the Confederates attacked Fort Sumter. Henry declined this appointment and, in May 1861, he joined the Fourth Battalion Massachusetts Volunteer Militia along with several of his friends, including his best friend, future United States Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. After Holmes and several other friends left to join the 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Abbott joined that regiment on July 10, 1861. At the end of August 1861, Abbott was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 20th Massachusetts Infantry, which became known as the "Harvard Regiment" because so many of its officers were Harvard graduates.Scott, 1991, p. 3
Abbott initially was more reluctant than his older brother, Ned, and his younger brother, Fletcher, to enlist.Scott, 1991, p. 3 He wrote to his father that he was more literary and domestic than his brothers, but that he would be ashamed of himself forever if he did not do anything in the time of crisis.Scott, 1991, p. 3 Many of the soldiers in Abbott's company were sailors and fishermen from Nantucket.Scott, 1991, p. 4 The first commander of the 20th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was Colonel William Raymond Lee, a United States Military Academy graduate and professional soldier.Scott, 1991, p. 4
American Civil War service
Ball's Bluff, the Peninsula, Seven Days' Battles On October 21, 1861, Abbott's 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment was ordered to cross the Potomac River from their camp at Poolesville, Maryland and with other Union Army units to make a demonstration towards Leesburg, Virginia.Heidler and Heidler, 2000, p. 1; Scott, ed., 1991, p. 4 This foray resulted in the comparatively minor Battle of Ball's Bluff, Virginia.Heidler and Heidler, 2000, p. 1; Scott, ed., pp. 4–5 The small battle had large consequences as the poorly scouted and coordinated movement of Union Army forces led to the rout of the Union force and the death of Colonel and U.S. Senator Edward Dickinson Baker, a close friend of President Abraham Lincoln. The U.S. Congress thereafter established the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, which bedeviled generals and others for the rest of the war. The consequences were severe for the 20th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment as well. The regiment suffered casualties of 30 percent killed and wounded and 37 percent captured. The Confederates routed the Union forces just after they had crossed the Potomac River from Maryland into Loudoun County, Virginia, scaled steep bluffs, crossed a field and run into the Confederate States Army forces hidden in the woods on the other side. Abbott ordered the men of his company to fight lying down, but he continued to direct them from a standing and walking position.Scott, ed., 1991, p. 5 Despite Abbott's brave attempt to hold the line, the 20th Massachusetts Infantry and other Union troops were steadily forced back.Scott, ed., 1991, p. 5 The line finally broke and many men leaped over the bluffs and some tried to swim across the Potomac River and drowned.Scott, ed., 1991, pp. 5–6 Others drowned when the overloaded boats in which they tried to recross the river capsized. Abbott and Captain William F. Bartlett led survivors of the 20th Massachusetts Infantry up the river to Smart's Mill, where they found a rowboat and got everyone across the river into Maryland under cover of darkness.Scott, ed., 1991, p. 6 The 20th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment held up well compared to most other Union regiments at Ball's Bluff but lost 87 of 300 men as killed and wounded and 111 as prisoners, including Colonel Lee, in its efforts to hold the Union line.Scott, ed., 1991, pp. 6–7
Abbott was promoted to first lieutenant on November 8, 1861.Heidler and Heidler, 2000, p. 1; Scott, ed., 1991, p. 7 gives the date as November 25, 1861. After rebuilding its strength for four and one-half months at Poolesville, Maryland, the 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment took part in the Peninsula Campaign.Scott, ed., 1991, p. 8 They were engaged especially at the Battle of Fair Oaks, where the regiment lost 28 men killed and wounded out of about 350.Scott, ed., 1991, p. 8 Later the 20th Massachusetts Infantry helped cover Major General George B. McClellan's retreat during the Seven Days' Battles.Heidler and Heidler, 2000, pp. 1–2; Scott, ed., pp. 8–9 On June 30, 1862, Abbott was wounded in the right arm at the Battle of Glendale, which compelled him to leave the regiment temporarily in order to recuperate at home.Heidler and Heidler, 2000, p. 2; Scott, ed., 1991, p. 10 He refused to leave the field, however, until after the Battle of Malvern Hill the next day.Scott, ed., 1991, p. 10 On August 9, 1862, Abbott's brother Ned was killed in action at the Battle of Cedar Mountain.Scott, ed., 1991, p. 11
Fredericksburg, Mud March, Second Fredericksburg On September 2, 1862, Abbott's regiment covered the retreat of the defeated forces of Union Major General John Pope after the Second Battle of Manassas or Bull Run. Weeks of hard duty took their toll on Abbott, who was not fully recovered from the wound he suffered at the Battle of Glendale. Abbott missed the Battle of Antietam because he was hospitalized with typhoid fever and grief over the death of his brother at Cedar Mountain.Heidler and Heidler, 2000, p. 2 The 20th Massachusetts Infantry again suffered heavy losses at Antietam. Soon after the battle, Abbott's brother Fletcher, who was suffering from dysentery, joined him in the hospital.Scott, ed., 1991, p. 12 Abbott recovered by November 1862 and returned to the regiment camped at Falmouth, Virginia across the Rappahannock River from Fredericksburg, Virginia.Scott, ed., 1991, p. 13. He was accompanied on his return by Holmes, who was returning after recovery from a wound suffered at the battle of Antietam.Scott, ed., 1991, p. 13.
Abbott next courageously led his men at the Battle of Fredericksburg. Due to the absence of Colonel Lee, Captain George Macy was acting colonel, and Abbott was acting major of the regiment.Scott, ed., 1991, p. 14 In preliminary street fighting on the eve of the battle, Abbott was one of the few officers in the 20th Massachusetts Infantry not to be killed or wounded, when he and his men engaged in fierce combat against the 21st Mississippi Infantry Regiment commanded by Abbott's Harvard classmate and friend, Lieutenant Lane Brandon.O'Reilly, Francis A., The Fredericksburg Campaign: Winter War on the Rappahannock, p. 98. Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, LA, 2003, paperback edition, 2006. . Brandon, who was informed that his men were fighting Abbott's company, had to be placed under arrest for disobeying orders to break off the fight when Union reinforcements started to come up. Abbott's men drove Confederate forces away from the river so Union Army engineers could complete pontoon bridges for a crossing in force.Scott, ed., 1991, pp. 14–15 Thirty of the 60 men that Abbott had led into combat had been killed or wounded.Scott, ed., 1991, p. 16 Overall, 113 of the 335 men in the regiment became casualties that day.Scott, ed., 1991, pp. 16–17 The next day, Abbott participated with his regiment in the disastrous Union Army assault on Marye's Heights where waves of Union attackers were cut down by Confederate artillery and infantry protected by a stone wall.Heidler and Heidler, 2000, p. 2; Scott, ed., 1991, p. 17 Abbott survived unscathed, although a bullet did hit his scabbard.Scott, ed., 1991, p. 17 Sixty men and three officers were killed in a matter of minutes in the attack on Marye's Heights, bringing the losses of the 20th Massachusetts Infantry in the battle to 168 men and 8 officers of 335 men and officers engaged. Abbott largely blamed Republican political leadership for the losses because they had removed Major General George McClellan, a fellow Democrat, from command of the Army of the Potomac.