The Campaign of the Forty-fifth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia: "The Cadet Regiment"

In Short

This regimental history captures the nine-month Civil War service of the 45th Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, known as the "Cadet Regiment," from late 1862 through the summer of 1863. Written from the perspective of Company A, the book details the unit's departure from Boston, a harrowing voyage south, and their varied duties in North Carolina, including provost guard work in Newbern, swamp marches, and sharp engagements like the Battle of Kinston. It endures as an unpretentious, vivid record of urban volunteers adapting to the raw hardships, absurdities, and tragedies of wartime military life.

The Story

The chronicle opens in Boston, where the men of Company A assemble at Camp Readville, learning basic drill, enduring police details, and establishing daily routines of roll calls and evening prayers. After a send-off on the Boston Common, where the governor presents their colors and dignitaries deliver long speeches, the regiment boards the steamer Mississippi. The nine-day voyage to North Carolina proves miserable; hundreds of men are packed into pitch-black, suffocating quarters three tiers deep in the ship’s hold.

Upon landing at Beaufort and moving to Newbern, the soldiers confront the reality of Southern surroundings. They encounter freed black contrabands, whose impoverished clothing and sharp humor upend the soldiers' preconceived notions of Southern life. The regiment settles into routine guard duty, picket assignments across the Trent River, and endless drilling. Picket duty across the river offers a mix of quiet bivouacking and sudden alarms, such as night false alarms that send the entire regiment shivering into line.

Military operations soon break the routine. The regiment marches through swampy terrain, wading broad streams and mud-filled roads toward Kinston. The men witness exhausted stragglers falling out from fever and see wounded Confederate prisoners, bringing home the grim reality of conflict. At the Battle of Kinston, the 45th faces a intense fire against General Evans's Confederate forces. Following the victory, the men forage for supplies, confiscate tobacco, and patrol the town to extinguish fires set in the wake of the clash.

Subsequent marches take them through cypress swamps toward Trenton, where they destroy a strategic bridge across the Trent River and fire a mill to prevent its reconstruction, accompanied by fleeing contrabands seeking freedom. Returning to Newbern, the regiment assumes provost guard duty, maintaining order, patrolling three city districts, and holding public dress parades accompanied by their remarkably improved regimental band. During this period, members of the regiment assist in teaching at a day school opened for contraband children and adults in a local church.

As spring turns to summer, the unit stockades its tents at Camp Massachusetts near Fort Spinola. The intense Southern heat brings severe hardship, filling the regimental hospital with men suffering from dangerous fevers. Despite their growing weariness and heavy losses, the men complete their nine-month term, losing twenty men killed and seventy-one wounded in battle alongside heavy losses to disease. Returning north via transport, the regiment gathers at Faneuil Hall in Boston for a boisterous final evening of songs and cheers before being officially mustered out on July 21, 1863.

How It Unfolds

The voyage begins After assembling and drilling at Camp Readville, the regiment marches through Boston after receiving their colors on the Common. They board the overcrowded steamer Mississippi, enduring nine days in lightless, foul-smelling bunks deep within the ship's hold.

Arrival in North Carolina Landing at Beaufort, the soldiers encounter contraband slaves wearing plantation rags, whose bright answers quickly correct the New Englanders' distorted preconceptions. The unit moves to Newbern to set up camp, taking on picket duties and routine guard details across the Trent River.

The march to Kinston The regiment advances through mud, cold nights, and swampy terrain, witnessing the grim sights of exhausted stragglers and gaunt rebel prisoners. They enter the Battle of Kinston under heavy rifle fire, winning the day before patrolling the burning town and foraging for food.

Expeditions and bridge burning Marching past Cypress swamps to Trenton, the 45th clears opposition and burns a vital river bridge to prevent enemy advances on Newbern. A large column of escaping slaves joins their return march as they destroy a local mill and navigate night prairie fires at Pollocksville.

Provost duty and camp life Assigned to provost guard in Newbern, the men patrol three city districts, participate in grand reviews, and teach basic reading to contrabands at a local church school. Home mail, care packages, quoits, and baseball balance out the demanding daily routine.

Summer heat and final muster Relieved from provost duty, the regiment stockades tents at Camp Massachusetts, where brutal heat and deadly fevers overcrowd the field hospitals. Transported back north, five hundred veterans reunite at Faneuil Hall for a night of song before receiving their final discharge.

The People

• Colonel Charles R. Codman wants to maintain strict military discipline while ensuring the welfare of his nine-month volunteers. Facing the challenges of drilling raw recruits and managing remote outposts, he succeeds through firm, fair leadership without resorting to severity, earning deep respect across the ranks as a model officer.
• Colonel Edward W. Kinsley wants to sustain morale among the soldiers both during active service and decades after the conflict. Facing the dark, oppressive days of the 1862–63 campaigns, he travels to camps, decks, and sand-plains, using his cheery presence, songs, and insider knowledge of military history to uplift the men.
• The Contrabands want freedom, safety, and basic literacy after escaping plantation slavery. Confronted by systemic impoverishment, social displacement, and previous denial of education, they adapt quickly, establishing new lives near camp, joining long marching columns toward Union lines, and eagerly mastering primers in Hancock Street church classes.
• The Private Soldiers of Company A want to fulfill their patriotic duty honourably while surviving harsh ship transports, mud marches, and southern fevers. Faced with short rations, exhausting picket turns, and deadly combat at Kinston, they rely on humor, camp-fire songs, and camaraderie to navigate the transition from comfortable Bostonians to battle-proven veterans.

In Its Own Voice

"As light was never known to penetrate that quarter, for two dim lanterns and three air-holes covered with gratings could hardly be said to afford light, it will be impossible to describe its appearance."

The author describes the stifling, pitch-black hold of the steamer Mississippi, where several companies were packed together for nine days at sea.

"A mill at the entrance of the town was fired to prevent the use of its timbers for the reconstruction of the bridge, and as the groan of the machinery rose above the roar of the flames, we could imagine it some huge creature awaiting in agony a fiery death."

During the expedition to Trenton, the men witness the destruction of local infrastructure intended to secure Union control over the river crossings.

"The sun beat hotter and hotter on those little tents, until we lived, as it were, in a fiery furnace."

As their nine-month enlistment draws to a close, the regiment struggles against severe heat and spreading disease while waiting for transport back to Boston.

What It's Really About

Beneath its chronological recording of marches and drills, the book explores the rapid maturation of young civil volunteers thrust into total warfare. It examines how civilian expectations shatter when confronted with the physical realities of military service: wretched transport conditions, scavenger-like police details, and the grim spectacle of gaunt prisoners and fever-struck comrades. It also captures the complex social encounters of Northern soldiers coming face-to-face with Southern slavery, documenting how firsthand contact with escaped contrabands dismantled northern stereotypes. Ultimately, the narrative reflects on the quiet endurance of ordinary citizens who fulfill their term of service, balance humor with grief, and preserve their shared bonds long after the battlefields of North Carolina are left behind.

Why Read It Today

This account offers readers an unvarnished, authentic window into the daily operational reality of Civil War infantrymen. Free of grandiose romanticism, the writing shines in its unpretentious observation of human behavior under stress. Modern readers will appreciate the author's eye for small, vivid details: the chaos of an initial night in barracks, the relief of martial music during exhausting marches, and the awkward lawlessness of foraging for chickens on unfamiliar plantations.

The narrative does present period difficulties. Modern readers will encounter outdated terminology regarding race and historical references specific to 1860s military structure. Furthermore, the prose reflects the cultural perspectives of nineteenth-century New Englanders encountering the American South for the first time. Yet these very elements enhance its value as a genuine primary document. Readers interested in military history, social history, or personal memoirs of the Civil War will find this narrative an engaging, honest, and moving portrait of young men fulfilling a brief but defining obligation to their country.