“M.P.McConnell presents a well-researched and well-written biography of a 19th century doctor who served as surgeon of the 6th Massachusetts at the start of the Civil War. It is an important contribution to our knowledge of the activities of that regiment in the days leading up to and subsequent to the Baltimore Riot of 19th April. That date is celebrated in memory of the events at Lexington & Concord in 1775, but particularly in Lowell and Lawrence, Massachusetts, the emphasis is on the events at Baltimore, resulting in the deaths of three soldiers from Lowell and one from Lawrence. To learn anything of the 6th after that date, one must either read Hanson's 1866 history of the Regiment or contemporary newspaper accounts.
Now, for the first time, we learn more of that gallant regiment's service after Baltimore. Widely celebrated as the first regiment to arrive at the national capitol, uniformed and armed, it lifted the spirits of Washington and the nation merely by its presence. Its subsequent posting to Baltimore and service there until the expiration of its enlistment is presented for the first time, accompanied by little known photographs of that service. Nationally hailed at the time, its service was soon all but forgotten as the full tragedy of the Civil War unveiled. This book is a most welcome addition to Civil War literature.”
Walter V. Hickey, Historian, Lowell (MA) Historical Society Genealogist, and Research Specialist with the National Archives (Retired)
