Roster of Company I, 24th Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers

In Short

Prepared by a committee of survivors in 1902, this historical roster documents the collective service of Company I of the 24th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers during the American Civil War. It lists officers, sergeants, corporals, musicians, wagoners, and enlisted men, detailing their muster dates, promotions, injuries, captures, desertions, and deaths across numerous southern campaigns. The book has lasted as a sobering, archival monument to the human cost borne by specific towns and citizens, preserving the granular reality of a community at war.

The Story

The work opens in the autumn of 1861, capturing a wave of young men from Boston, Cambridge, Brookfield, and surrounding towns who enlist to preserve the Union. Ranging in age from sixteen-year-old musicians like Albert Alden to older veterans and recruits, these individuals leave behind their civilian lives to form a tightly knit military unit. The progression moves swiftly from their initial organization and mustering in through a relentless succession of grueling southern engagements.

The narrative arc of service unfolds across various theaters of conflict, moving from early operations in North Carolina—such as Roanoke Island and Newbern in early 1862—to the bitter, protracted engagements along the South Carolina coast, including the siege and assault of Fort Wagner in 1863. As the months turn into years, the roster traces the heavy toll exacted on the company's ranks. Soldiers like William L. Horton and Edwin M. Tucker sustain early wounds at Newbern, while others, such as James A. Perkins and Luther Spooner, are killed in action on Morris Island.

The campaign shifts northward into Virginia for the final, grinding phases of the war through 1864 and 1865. The entries reveal an escalating sequence of battlefield casualties at Drury’s Bluff, Deep Run, Petersburg, and before Richmond. Men like Sergeant Patrick O'Hearn and young Henry W. Watson fall during the heavy fighting in late 1864, while others endure months in military hospitals or suffer capture and disease. Throughout these shifting fronts, the text tracks the systemic exhaustion of the unit: original enlistees re-enlist in January 1864, new recruits arrive to fill the gaps, and veterans slowly secure discharges for disability or expiration of service.

The progression reaches its quiet, administrative conclusion with the final mustering out of surviving members in January 1866. Rather than a traditional narrative climax, the text ends with a stark tally of endurance and loss, memorializing the men who returned to Massachusetts and those who filled graves from Annapolis to the outskirts of Richmond. The final pages cement an unvarnished record of survival, capturing the complete lifecycle of a volunteer company from enthusiastic formation to its inevitable dissolution nearly four decades before the book's publication.

How It Unfolds

The initial muster and organization In the autumn of 1861, young citizens from Boston, Cambridge, Brookfield, and surrounding towns enlist to form the foundation of the company. Officers like Captain J. Lewis Stackpole take command as the men gather, muster in, and prepare to leave their peaceful civilian lives behind for active military service in a fractured nation.

Early southern expeditions and camp hardships The unit experiences its baptism by fire during critical North Carolina operations, engaging enemy forces directly at Roanoke Island and Newbern in early 1862. Alongside direct combat losses, the men face the silent, devastating toll of camp disease, leading to early medical discharges and the first tragic deaths far from home.

Coastal sieges and entrenched warfare By 1863, the regiment shifts its operations to the challenging South Carolina coast, enduring the grueling conditions of the prolonged siege of Forts Wagner and Gregg. Constant exposure to heavy artillery and hazardous assault duties claims the lives of trusted personnel and forces numerous discharges due to mounting physical disabilities.

The pivotal re-enlistment period As their original three-year enlistment terms draw to a close in January 1864, a dedicated core of battle-hardened veterans chooses to re-enlist for the duration of the war. To offset years of heavy attrition, new recruits and replacement draftees steadily arrive, integrating into the veteran framework of the company to maintain its operational capacity.

The relentless Virginia offensives The final year of active campaigning brings the company into the brutal theater of Virginia throughout 1864, marked by intense fighting at Drury's Bluff, Deep Run, and Petersburg. This harrowing stretch accounts for the highest concentration of fatal battlefield wounds and combat losses recorded throughout the entire history of the unit.

Final muster-out and archival preservation Following the ultimate cessation of hostilities, the remaining soldiers fulfill their final service requirements and receive their official discharges in January 1866. Decades later, a dedicated committee of organizational survivors gathers the scattered records to compile this definitive printed roster, ensuring that the service and sacrifice of every individual member are permanently remembered.

The People

The text centers on a broad cross-section of officers and enlisted men whose personal trajectories embody the unit's collective journey. Charles Bean Amory enters service as a young officer of twenty from West Roxbury, steadily rising through leadership responsibilities before transitioning to staff duties as an assistant adjutant-general. Albert Ordway similarly advances from a young captain through major and lieutenant-colonel, dedicating decades to preserving the memory of the regiment until his death in 1897.

Among the junior officers and enlisted ranks, individual desires for patriotic duty frequently clash with the brutal realities of army life. William L. Horton seeks active service as a second lieutenant but suffers a severe wound at the Battle of Newbern, though he perseveres to eventually discharge as a first lieutenant. Edwin M. Tucker serves as a sergeant and color bearer, carrying the regimental standard through perilous engagements like Newbern before finally securing an honorable discharge at the expiration of his service. Conversely, men like James A. Perkins pursue military duty with resolve only to have their aspirations abruptly terminated, as when he is killed in action on Morris Island. Across these profiles, the participants transition from hopeful volunteers into seasoned, battle-worn veterans or permanent casualties, their individual agency constantly mediated by the unforgiving demands of total war.

In Its Own Voice

The ledger documents the administrative beginnings of the company's young leadership at the outbreak of hostilities.

=STACKPOLE, J. LEWIS=, Captain, age 23, residence Cambridge. Mustered in Sept. 2, 1861. Captain Commissary of Subsistence Sept. 11, 1862.

The entries bluntly capture the fatal price paid by officers during grueling coastal sieges.

=PERKINS, JAMES A.=, 1st Lieutenant, age 25, residence Boston. Mustered in Sept. 2, 1861. Killed in action at Morris Island Aug 26, 1863.

The records also illustrate the difficult trajectory of veteran enlisted men who chose to re-enlist before meeting their end in Virginia.

=Adams, Artemas=, age 37, residence Brookfield. Mustered in Oct. 9, 1861. Re-enlisted Jan. 2, 1864. Wounded at Proctor's Creek. Killed Oct. 13, 1864, near Richmond, Va.

What It's Really About

Beneath the stark lists of dates, ages, and military designations, the book explores the heavy communal burden of civic duty and the profound demographic sacrifice exacted by national conflict. It raises implicit questions about how communities absorb the sudden loss of their youngest members and how institutional memory is constructed long after a war ends. Rather than offering abstract political commentary, the text examines the mechanics of loyalty and attrition, demonstrating how ordinary towns in Massachusetts sustained years of continuous loss. It serves as a meditation on collective identity, showing that the history of a grand war is ultimately composed of thousands of individual life trajectories cut short or fundamentally altered by historical circumstance.

Why Read It Today

Readers interested in authentic American history, genealogy, or the unvarnished texture of nineteenth-century military life will find profound value in this primary source. Reading it feels less like consuming a traditional narrative and more like walking through a quiet archival gallery, where every line represents a human life touched by extraordinary upheaval. The experience is undeniably demanding; the unembellished, repetitive catalog format requires patience, and the relentless accumulation of wounds, diseases, and fatalities creates a sobering, heavy atmosphere. Yet, this very starkness is what stays with the reader long after closing the book. It strips away romantic mythologies surrounding the Civil War, replacing grand abstractions with the precise ages, hometowns, and tragic ends of teenage musicians, young farmers, and veteran sergeants. For those willing to engage with its rigorous structure, the book offers a rare, unfiltered connection to the individuals who lived and died to preserve a nation, leaving an indelible reminder of the true cost embedded in historical preservation.